In recent years, the issue of whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in female sports categories has become a highly debated topic.
The 2023 Canadian Powerlifting Championships in Richmond, B.C. brought this issue to the forefront when members and supporters of the International Consortium on Female Sport (ICFS) protested the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s trans inclusion policy. This policy allows athletes to self-identify into the category of their choosing.
At the competition, Anne Andres won a bronze medal. Andres would go on to make a very interesting post on social media highlighting the hypocrisy involved in signing up for the women’s division as a trans female.
She was promptly ridiculed online for the inconsistency.
“Why is women’s bench so bad? I mean, not compared to men. We all know that I’m a training freak, so that doesn’t count.” – Andres starts off.
Fitness coach Greg Doucette was quick to put her on blast:
“Okay, well, women’s bench are so bad in comparison to you because you were once a man. When you’re a man, you’re exposed to more testosterone. With more testosterone comes stronger joints and bigger muscles.”
Sports organizations worldwide are grappling with how to balance inclusion, fairness, and safety in sporting categories.
World Aquatics (formerly FINA) announced last year that it would only allow transgender women who began transitioning before the age of 12 to compete in high-level international swimming competitions, proposing a new “open” category.
Transgender women’s inclusion in female sports categories raises concerns about fairness and safety. Critics argue that going through male puberty can provide physical advantages that are not completely mitigated by testosterone inhibitors and surgery, which disadvantages those assigned female at birth.
Furthermore, some suggest that transgender women’s participation may pose safety risks to cisgender women, especially in contact sports.
Proponents of inclusion argue that everyone has the right to participate in sports, regardless of their gender identity. Moreover, they believe that the harms of excluding transgender women from sports outweigh any disadvantages they may have.
Since 2014, Benny A. King has been fully immersed in the world of combat sports. Starting with a blog about Greco Roman wrestling, Benny’s passion for combat sports has led him to explore various disciplines.