Beating Girls

A Presidential Signature Signifies the Demise of Female Sports

On January 20, President Biden destroyed female sports with one swoosh of the Executive pen.

Biden’s “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” declares, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” Over at World Magazine, Katie McCoy points out three very important words that Biden left out of that sentence: “Biden wants transgender children to enter the restroom of their preference, enter the locker room of their preference, and join the sports team of their preference.” No transgender children (to my knowledge) have been denied access to a restroom, a locker room, or school sports. Rather, what this Executive Order does is guarantee that confused children are able to act on their confusion, and cause further confusion, embarrassment, and even pose a physical safety risk to other children.

The scientifically confirmed differences between the sexes are profound and remarkable—and reason to celebrate, in a sane world. As Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage, writes at Newsweek, the “‘organizational’ effects of male puberty are profound, and they are permanent: larger hearts and lungs, more oxygenated blood, more fast-twitch muscle fiber, greater upper-body muscle mass, greater lower-body muscle mass, greater bone density.” In any competition involving mere strength or speed, most men will beat most women. Shrier cites the website boysvswomen.com, which compares the winning times of high-school boys at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor track and field competition, and female Olympians. In the 100, 200, 400, and 800 meter races, the high-school boys took the top eight spots compared to Olympian women.

To address the obvious physical differences, the International Olympic Committee has been considering halving the permissible amount of testosterone levels in trans women. Current IOC guidelines state that to compete in women’s sports, both women and trans women must have a testosterone level below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months. Considering that women’s average T levels tend to be between 0.12 and 1.79 nanomoles per litre, while men’s are typically between 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles per litre, even the 10 npl limit seems pretty high. (Admittedly, female athletes also tend to have higher levels of testosterone than the average woman.) The IOC was considering whether to reduce this level to 5 npl for trans women, but had delayed their decision when their scientific panel failed to agree on a solution. (Thankfully for the IOC, the 2020 Olympics were canceled before the body was forced to make a politically explosive decision.) Another study found that (adult) trans women retained an athletic advantage even after the mandated one-year period of reduced testosterone levels currently required by the IOC.

There is some debate on whether boys who decide to transition in childhood and take puberty blockers may be more similar to biological girls than adult men who decide to transition. It is puberty, after all, when vast changes in physical makeup tend to occur. But any parent can tell you that even in childhood, boys and girls are simply different. Studies show that even in infancy and toddlerhood, boys are more active and more aggressive than are girls. Whatever the physical differences may turn out to be, the two sexes are wired differently from birth.

We’ve already witnessed some of the consequences of allowing men to participate in female sports. High-school girls in Connecticut and other places are already losing top competition opportunities to boys who decide to compete as female. Eventually, they will lose scholarship opportunities. In more harrowing examples, trans woman MMA fighter Fallon Fox gave opponent Tamikka Brents a concussion and a broken eye socket in just over two minutes of fighting. The injury required seven staples. In later interviews, Brents told reporters, “I’ve fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can’t answer whether it’s because she was born a man or not, because I’m not a doctor . . . I can only say, I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life…”

Women have fought long and hard for the ability to compete at elite levels alongside—but not against—men. Now, in a weird, twisted tale, we are losing those rights to confused men. Many feminists are rightfully horrified, and so too are the parents of daughters. When winning and record-breaking in female athletics are defined by men who identify as women, female sports will be effectively over.