Should Transgender Athletes Be Able To Compete?

http://www.thesportster.com/

Transgender women are now eligible to compete in women’s sports. With the new rule, male athletes are able to compete  in female competition, without undergoing        sex reassignment surgery. The International Olympic Committee released this earlier this year in their updated guidelines. Prior to the International Olympic Committee easing up on the rules, transgender athletes had to undergo sex reassignment surgery, and then wait 2-3 years for their physique to change to that of the other gender.

The International Olympic Committee expanded on this with an article they posted, noting, “It is necessary to ensure insofar as possible that trans athletes are not excluded from the opportunity to participate in sporting competition. The overriding sporting objective is and remains the guarantee of fair competition.”

They are trying to tell reassure the public that in doing this; the competition will still be fair. How is it possibly fair to let biological males compete with females without even going through surgery to be classified as a female. Males are made for physically different and have naturally bigger and stronger bodies than females. I am not saying that females are incapable of physical labour, i’m just stating the facts. Males just have to take a bunch of estrogen pills and suddenly they are classified to compete against females. That is in no way fair to the females of the sport that have worked hard to get where they are.

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I don’t think transgender athletes should be allowed to compete any time after they change sex. Even with the previous rule, where men have to go through sex reassignment surgery, and then wait a couple years to let their body transform. It is not fair to women. If they were a man at one point in time, they will have the bone structure that men have, bigger feet, bigger shoulders and generally more powerful. With women coming up against women who were previously men it creates a dangerous environment for them. They can get seriously hurt.

The reason this issue has not improved, but gotten much worse is partially because we still live in a Patriarchy. To be more specific, the sports world is a patriarchy. With men basically controlling the world of sports, they can make rules that will put women at a disadvantage with almost no difficulties.

With this new rule, a man who feels like a woman can make an argument to compete in women’s sports. This is most evident in MMA fighting, where men have a superior advantage because of their size and strength. The most well known case, is with transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. Fallon Fox was previously a man who has had sex reassignment surgery to be a female, and now competes against females in MMA, dominating the sport.

Fallon Fox (left) Tamikka Brents (right)
http://whoatv.com/

Her dominance in the sport was showcased when she came up against opponent Tamikka Brents. Fallon gave Tamikka Brents a serious concussion, and a damaged eye socket in their fight, showing that it is a danger for transgender athletes to compete against biological females. After Tamikka recovered, she spoke about the fight.

 “I’ve never felt so overpowered in my life. 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, and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right. ”

Fallon Fox has brought light to what could be something that the International Olympic Committee was not expecting. Males could soon dominate female sports, and where does that leave the females? They will have nowhere to compete that is a safe and competitive environment. Overall, this new rule that has been put in to place should be abolished as soon as possible. If anything they should make the rules more strict in order to have fair competition between sexes.