No, they aren’t. The debate on transgender athletes being justified in professional sports has been going on since 2015 but has been picking up from 2020 to now. Transgender athletes, or more specifically trans women, have physical advantages over the women they are competing against. The fact that there is even debate that a biological man would or wouldn’t have physical advantages over a biological woman is absurd.
Biological men have 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter of testosterone, while biological women only have 15 to 70 nanograms per deciliter. There is a significant difference in testosterone levels between them, which makes physical sports unfair. Even if you were to make the argument that trans women take estrogen, testosterone blockers, or progesterones before puberty and hit the ideal testosterone levels of 30 – 100 nanograms per deciliter, they still could potentially have higher levels than women. Also, even with those medications, most trans women will transition after they hit puberty and become adults, which does not allow for the medication to take the full ideal effect on testosterone levels.
If you look further into the debate, there is a theory that biological men are “transitioning” just to get better times, scores, etc. One example that gets brought up is Lia Thomas. Thomas soared from a mid-500s ranking (554th in the 200 freestyle; all divisions) in men’s competition to one of the top-ranked swimmers in women’s competition, just showing the levels of the unfairness that unfolded at the NCAA level. There is controversy about why she transitioned, but whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is that she is taking opportunities away from female athletes. There is no way Thomas became a significantly better swimmer after transitioning and just happened to become a new record holder. Thomas is breaking records done by women swimmers by a landslide while she couldn’t get past the 500-400 ranks while swimming with biological men.
On the other hand, trans men are at a disadvantage for the same or at least similar reasons. The general controversies and debates around the topic are more focused on trans women because they are taking away records and awards from women, while trans men struggle in sports because they are biological women; they have the same disadvantages when it comes to sports, so they are inherently not taking away opportunities and posing a “threat” to male athletes when it comes to their records unless it’s a team sport. The problem of transgender athletes competing with biological athletes could be easily fixed by creating trans leagues or teams. Leagues help inclusivity.
Overall, I think that it is obvious that trans women have advantages over women in sports. It would be insulting to insinuate that a 6-foot male who transitioned at 26, who has more muscle and testosterone and is bigger than most women, would pose a problem or be unfair. This debate isn’t transphobic or hateful; it is genuine concern for women and the future of sports and trans athletes.
