World Athletics Bans Transgender Female Athletes From Competing in Female Category
World Athletics, the world governing body for track and field, has banned transgender female athletes from competing in the female category at international events. The decision was made by the World Athletics Council today, following a recommendation from the organization’s medical advisory board.
The ban will take effect on March 31, 2023. Under the new rules, transgender female athletes will be required to have competed in the male category for at least 12 months before they can compete in the female category.
The ban has been met with mixed reactions. Some have praised World Athletics for taking a stand to protect female athletes, while others have criticized the decision as discriminatory.
World Athletics has said that the ban is necessary to protect the fairness of women’s sport. The organization has argued that transgender female athletes have an unfair advantage over cisgender female athletes, due to their higher levels of testosterone.
However, some have argued that the ban is discriminatory and will harm transgender athletes. They have pointed out that transgender female athletes are already required to meet a number of eligibility requirements, including having their testosterone levels below a certain threshold.
It remains to be seen how the ban will be implemented and how it will affect transgender athletes. It is possible that some transgender athletes will be able to continue competing in the female category by meeting the new eligibility requirements. However, it is also possible that the ban will effectively prevent transgender athletes from competing in the female category at all.
A further nuance is with athletes like South Africa’s Caster Semenya who is female but has differences in sex development (DSD). Such athletes must reduce blood testosterone levels to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre (previously 5), and must remain under this threshold for two years in order to compete internationally in the female category in any track and field event. This now appears to apply to all events rather than those previously targetted at 400m to a mile.
Opinion
This is clearly discriminatory. But it is also totally commonsensical.
The adjustment to DSD race distances now appears fair rather than perhaps aimed at Caster Semenya in particular!
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I can’t agree with your view that it is discriminatory, sex is a protected characteristic, not gender, and legislation allows for the presence of a protected sex category.
Also these are not transwomen, they are trans identified MEN who have no place in a protected female category.
At an elite level the “women” category has to be protected to remain meaningful in sports where testosterone is a significant advantage. Having gone through puberty and trained for years with testosterone is a retained advantage. Even androgen suppression does not erase the potential gains from years of elite training with natural testosterone.
I believe Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand are XY but have intersex physical characteristics due to androgen insensitivity and identify as female.
Life is not fair. Some advantages are allowed and some are not. I’m glad not to be the rule writers and adjudicators on this topic. There is no way to please all stake holders with legitimate points of view.
None of this should have anything to do with non-elite sport and children’s participation.
but what about age group atheltes who train over 15 hours a week? they are effectively semi-pro or elite for age.
what about gifted girls who can never win at their school. That’s hardly motivational
I’m glad not to have to be the one making the rules.
It is clearly NOT discrimatory, it is excatly the opposite. As a father of two daugthers and a lifelong athlete it is obvious that men and “former men” have a clear advantage. Be it swimmers, runners, powerlifters…you name it. Otherwise we would have (professional) mixed teams in soccer, basketball or cycling. That’s why mediocre male athletes who transition are becoming excellent “female” athletes, shattering womens WR left and right. Why don’t we create a “Trans-League” in which those athletes can compete with each other to their hearts delight and without stealing opportunities from girls and women? And to add insult to injury, women who speak up get cancelled and called names.
I can only applaude the World Athletics decision and hope that this commensensical trend will continue.
it clearly IS discriminatory if you look at a dictionary definition
by the same token, it clearly is a physical advantage to have passed through male puberty. That’s why it’s a commonsense outcome.
that said, I still like the idea of WOMEN and OTHER as categories to nuance the solution. Although “I am the OTHER champion of the world” doesn’t quite have the right ring to it 😉
Perhaps rather women and open (all comers) would be the categories.
nah, ‘OTHER’ is funnier ! 😉
Wow!!! Common sense!!!! I thought that was extinct…. Lets now force all these wandering politicians to depart and find some common sense alternatives…
historically, common sense hasn’t won too many elections.
hopefully some of the nonsense that’s going around now will invoke a populist revival of commonsense.
Bottom line, men shouldn’t be competing in women’s sports and that’s just common sense. Being “Trans” is a mental disorder brought on by far left politicians. These politicians could care less about your “rights”, they care about making money off of you. The average “transition” makes the pharmaceutical industry over $1 million over the lifespan of a “trans” person.