Feasibility of Transgender Athletes in Women's Sports

This paper presents the diverse understanding on the issue of the feasibility of transgender athletes participating in women's sports. It discusses the dichotomous perspectives, compares and contrasts different views, and explores the theories and academic discourse on diversity and inclusion. The paper highlights the need for inclusive evaluation of the issue and the importance of considering diverse opinions.

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Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The aim of the paper is to present the diverse understanding on the issue of the feasibility of
transgender athletes are allowed to compete in athletic events. In doing so, this paper will be
presenting the dichotomous perspectives of people on this particular issue from the social
media blogs videos and discussion forums by relating it to the theories ad scholar in the
academic discourse of diversity and inclusion. The purpose of this particular paper will be
confined in presenting the diverse perspective on the issue and present the compare and
contrast between the two. The idea of comparative learning is one of the natural operations of
the human mind; however it becomes difficult for the students to understand comparative
points in their academic discourse. The idea behind accepting diverse opinion is based on the
understanding that that proper evaluation of the issue requires inclusion of diversity of
opinion.
Discussion
According to my opinion, men in general are bigger in structure with higher strength which
is one of the factors that determines results in sports if they are being competed with women.
This is one of the reasons why there is a segregation of sports activities. However it has
nothing to do with their talents, these are some of the physical differences that makes
difference abilities, however in case of the transgender sports person the case is little
different. Since they are under the medical treatment to participate in the women sports, it is
not only harmful to them Trans gender athletes in particular; it is equally impacting for the
women in sports who are discriminated from gaining the top position in sports activity.
According to the discussion in the newspaper, it has been observed that more voices are
coming into the issue that the transgender competitors are to be allowed to take part in the in

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the women’s part. One criticism on this regard comes from the silver medallist swimmer,
Sharron Davies who lend her support for the Fair play pressure group of women for
excluding the male sex from participating in the women’s sport. She clearly mentions that
being born in the binary sex and the gender one has are different and to protect the sanctity of
the women’s sport, they should not be allowed. However discussion continues on the same
note since the transgender cyclist calls Davies a “transphobe”. This brings us to the
discussion that there is a need to develop the understanding of the contradictory views of the
people since everyone has equal right to voice their opinion about the issue (Anderson et al.,
2017). The debate grows into the complex discussion where it is argue by one side of the
debate that Tran’s women in athletes have the unfair advantage in terms of their physical
strength. This new article discusses about the argument presented by the scientists that
testosterone level among the transgender sportsperson during their growth process is higher
which acts a s a barrier to the participation in the game. The stand of the International
Olympic committee in this regard has been to allow the Trans women participate in the sports
activity with the women only when they could control their testosterone level for the period
of 12 months(Genel, 2017). However before their medical control, there are chances of being
discriminated form the unfair advantage of the Trans women by participating in the women’s
sports. The new item shared on BBC discusses and debates about the validity of the
justification of whether Tran’s women should be allowed to participate in the Women’s sport.
Under this discussion, it is developed that most of the states of not have the right policy to
cater to the violation of the civil rights of the LGBTQ community and their participation in
sports(Hargie ett al., 2017). The chairperson of the NGO running the cause of the Trans
women in sports is of the opinion, that the high school students are yet to start their hormonal
therapy of excluded form participation is being discriminated directly against the other
students in class. He is also of the opinion that segregating the trans women in the high

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school is only unequal, it is equally wrong for them since they are being left out of the equal
chance to play(Jones et al., 2017). It is argued that these high school kids are not to be
discriminated from enjoying their space in the athletics. People like the first transgender
news reporter of Britain believes that it should not be allowed to make the trans women
participate in the women’s sport since physically they are taller and stronger and might enjoy
higher strength in games. She is of the opinion that transgender women in the general
category of women for sports are creating the gap between both the genders. Tennis great
Martina Navratilova has been vehemently criticised for competing in the women’s sports.
Hence the believes circulates that it is unfair to create room for transgender women in
women’s sports(Anderson et al., 2017). As per the opinion of the Sharron Davis who has
already competed in the Olympics that in one hand, the creation of a different set of category
exclusively for the transgender women are not necessary since it generates the idea of “
other’ while at the same time, it is important to let the young women win their scholarships in
case prohibiting the transgender women play in the same category. The first transgender
athlete of US, Chris Mosier tweets” transgender boys are boys while transgender girls are
girls. However the debate does not stop here since there are further debate in favour of their
participation in the women sports since it is being argue that sports have never been the “
fair” activity. For example Professor Elle Cashmore explains that hiding in a women’s body
and taking advantage of the women’s game for gaining fame and name and turning to a
man soon after the fame is not an extremely difficult process since the change of identity is
not easy or feasible for the person to bring. Hence the question of being “fair” and “equal”.
It has been argued in the academic discourse that there are number of disadvantages of
allowing the transgender people within the women sports. As has been put forwarded by
scholars that trans women are biologically stronger than the their female counterpart since
they are biologically trapped into the men’s body (Anderson et al., 2017). The discussion has

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been important in this regard due to the fact that fair and equality is the basis of any sports
activity. However the academic response in this area has remained grey in number of areas.
For example, it has been observed that transgender athletes have advantages in terms of their
biological abilities even after numbering their level of testosterone however what is more
striking is that there is a poor understanding of the theoretical underpinnings. According to
the discussion in the sports literature, it has been observed that there are number of ways for
the transgender persons to participate in the sports activities(Jones et al., 2017). Moreover
there is no particular way to be trans athlete, it can be participating with the trans men in
order to make it more easier for the women to compete. Irrespective of the hormonal level in
the body, there is a need to their develop the parallel infrastructure for the trans men and
women to compete among themselves which is not only beneficial for the women sports, it
is psychically beneficial for the trans players to not control their normal maturation process.
The academic discourse has been dubious in terms of the understanding of the biological
theories that can support and discard the abilities of the Trans athletes based on their
biological features(Genel, 2017). This has been argued that there are some sports activities
which where any advantages of physical body will never disappear, the growth and structure
of height, limb, length are larger which will provide the better performance for the same.
Moreover, the ill effects of lowering testosterone has number of disadvantages for the
transgender person in terms of reducing haemoglobin, strength, power and cardiovascular
capacity of them(Genel, 2017). Hence the idea is not to create unfair inequality by harming
physical abilities of the other parties. Hence the general idea remains that that trans gender
athletes at the high school level are to be given the chance to participate before they undergo
the medical treatment since it is against the value of equality to restrict someone from
participating in the sports events based on the biological attributes(Jones et al., 2017). In
addition to this, there are other studies discussing the level of participation by the transgender

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athletes, male-to-female athletes at the transition phase are to be made a separate category
for the purpose of ensuring them enough time to remain under hormonal treatment. Inclusion
of the trans gender participants in the women sports is both exclusionary of the women’s
potential in sports, and discriminatory at the same time(Genel, 2017). Hence the problem lies
in the development of sound policies for this purpose which can reduce the adverse effect
of physical abilities and lower the rate of their hurtful discrimination. Since such
discrimination can later litigation, it is wise to develop the required infrastructure for the
tarns gender athletes to protect them from the undue discrimination.
Conclusion
The aim of the paper has been to discuss the issue of presenting the comparative
understanding of the different perspective in the issue of allowing the trans gender
population in the women’s sports. It has been observed in the body of the research, there is an
absence of clear understanding on Tran gender people and their abilities in the sports field.
People in the social media platforms have raised the issue regularly due to the emerging
number of tans gender women winning names for themselves by participating in the women’s
sports. Due to the believe of the existing disparity of psychical strength in bodily features, the
demand for creating separate se of sports activity has been posed. However what has been the
matter of concern is that absence of relevant literature in the issue remains a weak areas in
this regard since no substantive conclusions can be drawn. However the conclusion hereby
reflects in the presence of the dichotomous ideas and opinions in this field as to whether the
Trans gender athletes are to be allowed to participate in the athletic activities.

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Reference
Anderson, E., & Travers, A. (Eds.). (2017). Transgender athletes in competitive sport. Taylor
& Francis.
Genel, M. (2017). Transgender athletes: how can they be accommodated?. Current sports
medicine reports, 16(1), 12-13.
Hargie, O. D., Mitchell, D. H., & Somerville, I. J. (2017). ‘People have a knack of making
you feel excluded if they catch on to your difference’: Transgender experiences of
exclusion in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52(2), 223-239.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I75kfAVF64A
Ingle, S. (2019). Sports stars weigh in on row over transgender athletes. [online] the
Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/03/sports-
stars-weigh-in-on-row-over-transgender-athletes [Accessed 3 Jul. 2019].
Jones, B. A., Arcelus, J., Bouman, W. P., & Haycraft, E. (2017). Sport and transgender
people: A systematic review of the literature relating to sport participation and
competitive sport policies. Sports Medicine, 47(4), 701-716.