Sarah, another great column. Thank you for honoring those athletes who spoke up earlier--and the abuse they suffered for speaking up for women. Hopefully we are starting to move past this. I say "starting" because of most of the media and the gender-woo group refuses to recognize that women deserve sex-based rights.
Very much "starting." The media particularly is filled with sportscasters and pundits sputtering with rage at Cunningham's refusal to apologize. The fact that the WNBA, The Fever, Adidas, and a large swath of the fans openly or tacitly approve, if not of her statement, at least her ability to say it out loud is making those headlines seem increasingly out of touch, and frankly, insane
Let's hope the crashing out continues. Megan Rapinoe on the View supporting men in women's sports--trying to obfuscate the topic by pulling in marriage equality, reproductive rights, etc. And the Ladies of the View just let her get away with it (no surprise).
That's easy for her to say now since she retired, and won't get run over by men on the field.
She wants to act like she can play against men… but it would take a lot more than a short hair cut.
As I recall, she was one of the ones who was jealous that teammate Mia Hamm got a hair modeling contract. Who wouldn't want her hair? If you want a hair sponsorship, don't cut off your hair.
It is plain common sense. Sophie said the obvious. The is really more militant LGBTQ vs everyone else.
Some Dems in very liberal, urban areas think they need to stand with the trans community. They don't. They need to have a truthful discussion with the LGBTQ+ about biology and the importance of fairness in society and sports.
But this is not so easy. I have tried to discuss the matter with trans. They are illogical, condescending and hateful. I honestly wanted to know why they think they can compete against girls. (It was like they were bots. I'm not sure that Russian bots are not driving this conversation, honestly.) They were very hostile. I wouldn't dismiss the Russian Bot Plot to control the narrative of the 2026 election just yet. Strange how trans boys, 1% of 1%, is in the news so much since the 2024 election. Wouldnt you think that education funding for 100% of youth would be more important to discuss than .001%?
The trans supportera have no good reasoning. They want to create another sex, besides male and female. In their minds and hearts, they are convinced they are female. Good luck arguing with that logic, or delusional thinking.
One trans claimed to have known he was really a she when he was five years old. You know how often 5 year olds are right? Honestly, it seems more like a mental disorder, narcissism and non-conformist traits, but you can't tell them that. They want to play sports against girls, and they can't grasp that some girls would get hurt, and it's avoidable.
Thise Dems need to oppose trans against girls in sports, and support the Olympic Committee rules.
The sane people in the LGBTQ group need to kick the T’s and Q’s out for confusing the right to harm girls with actual rights for trans adults. They have created so much hate against themselves and all trans because they want to create another gender with extraordinary rights to dominate young girls in sports. (A competition is fair, so I shouldn't say they want to compete against biological females..)
Trans biys against girls is less the one percent of one percent. .0001. If this tiny fraction of one percent of boys want to play against girls, too bad. Life has rules. Tough titty. They need to see a psychologist for not understanding or accepting biology and respecting that some women, especially smaller girls, would get hurt. Any athlete understands this.
I am not being insensitive. I am standing for the weaker biological girls who would get injured playing against trans males. I will never think a trans boy should compete against girls. It's just madness.
Not long ago I was at the hospital for a pre-op visit. While there, I saw something that I did not see when I was in high school many years ago. I saw a very, frail feminine male with a much bigger, stronger female. She wasn't trice is size, but almost. The size difference is more than chance. If you haven't heard of “hormone disruptors,” chemicals like PFAS’, know they are for real and kids have been exposed to them.
It appeared that the couple was there for the frail male. I don't know what for. However, it should be clear by now that because of hormone disrupting chemicals in the environment, traditional male and female body standards have changed. Some men are weaker, and some women are much stronger.
Whats happening to the youth because of hormone disruptors in the environment is what the discussion should be about, not .01% of young boys who think they can play sports against girls.
Trans in sports is a stupid topic. It's really not a thing. I am glad Sophie said the obvious. The Olympic Committee is right on this because biology matters and fair means fair.
Another example of an inspirational female athlete being marginalised is Bethany Hamilton, who spoke about protecting female sporting categories. Rip Curl replaced her as brand ambassador with a trans identified male, Sasha Jane Lowerson (aka Ryan Egan):
Bethany Hamilton is a star, and should have been included in this timeline. My history is not complete by any means. I was reminded of this mixed zone clip from 2016 of mid-distance runner Shannon Rowbury talking about the integrity of women's sports, referencing Caster Semenya. A month after this interview happened, Semenya and two other male athletes with DSD swept the women's 800-meter podium at the Rio Olympics.
Came across on X directly after reading your essay. Compared to the fawning coverage Laurel Hubbard received, Australian weightlifter Deborah Acason received small fraction of his media attention:
Thank you for sending this link. I had never heard of Deborah Acason. Fascinating, and perfectly, sadly, representative of how women's voices have been minimized or silenced completely.
I joined the discussion about Sophie Cunningham's brave stance about the integrity of women's sports in the New York Times and was pleased with the support she received but also appalled at the vitriol some spouted and also appalled at the sheer ignorance of the clear biological differences and advantages males have, along with the ignorance of the comparison between non elite, schoolboys' performances versus elite female's performances. That should have been enough but it appears it never is. thank goodness Cunningham was not forced to grovel to be allowed to continue to play.
The "trans nonsense terminology" is how this ideology has become embedded. Really appreciate Sophie Cunningham's plain speaking communication, which will hopefully encourage more currently competing female athletes to speak up for other girls and women.
Thanks! I really appreciate the boosts you provide. Doing must best to counter Yahoo Sports and USA Today apoplectic with rage that Cunningham will not apologize for the crime of saying women's sports should be for women. This bullying has always worked before! Why won't she grovel in shame for supporting reality!?
I was putting dinner on the table when I typed this--I'm blaming low blood sugar on typos and words that I was thinking but didn't actually type. Like Impressionism, I hope you can squint at it and get my drift
"I said what I said," should go down in history as the answer to all things RIGHT about fighting back against injustice. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Common Sense are a FOUNDATION of justice and freedom. Title IX merely CLARIFIED that these truths are for women and girls, too. It should not have had to be said, but it was necessary. Yes, few famous or important women have publicly stood up for women's and girl's rights as they pertain to FAIR competition, from at least 7th grade, high school, college, professional and other international competitive venues. What stood out to me during the last Olympics is the utter silence from two stand out female athletes who had the credentials to turn the issue of a male Olympic boxer knocking women out in the boxing ring into an international scandal - just on their say-so. Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. Granted, Simone had her own issues, but if she and/or Katie had shown up for a boxing match with (born a man) Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, who identified as a woman, the whole scam would have blown up then, and possibly saved the humiliation of real female boxers who faced this man. Shame on them. Shame on the Olympics.
As far as Simone Biles andKatie Ledecky go, that was 2024. An eternity ago in this issue. The IOC had not protected women's sports yet. The Supreme Court decision and WTA's policy on genetics testing only happened within the last month. I described the public denunciation of Elizabeth Eddy, and that was not even a year ago. I don't think even big stars like Ledecky and Biles would have been able to affect change in 2024. The world was not ready
Majority of legacy media insisted that Imane Khelif was female, since IOC accepted his passport identification (with wrong sex markers) as confirmation of eligibility for female category. There's been so much active disinformation about male athletes with DSDs competing in female category (still persisting) that individual athletes shouldn't be censured for not being across the issue.
Thank you Sarah for another great article. It's so hard to keep up-to-date on what's happening in the world of women's sports. One of the most horrible things is reading about some women humiliating themselves by groveling and apologizing for stating the truth. One thing is obvious, this sports situation is exposing a deep and putrid well of hatred of women in much of the male sports community. It also seems obvious that there is deliberate recruitment of female impersonators into women's sports because of the profit motive and the revenue these faux females generate by causing controversy and strife as well as winning for the teams they represent. Blaire Fleming is an example. For the sporrs owners, sports are about money NOT skills. With the proliferation of sports gambling it becomes more likely that owners, colleges and universities will continue to try to seed their teams with trans identified males looking to parade their sexual fetishes before a captive audience and create a spectacle that will sell more tickets and cause more bets to be placed.
Alison Sydor told me about it. She didn't just tell me about it--she lived it. She represented Canada in 4 Olympics, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 and was a silver medalist. She should have been in this timeline too because she spoke up for women's sports while she was still competing.
Reading these it really looks like there is a widespread backlash against female athleticism. The gender woo woo is being used as a tool to push the backlash against women's sports. It is not the only tool in play, but it has been a very successful tool to dismantle female sports.
Is it a coincidence that trans ppl (men) in women's sports has increased right after increased interest, opportunity and support for women's sports?
Opportunism may explain the individual males entering female leagues, but opportunism does not explain why they are allowed, supported and celebrated.
It was not very long ago at all that female categories were first available for sports like boxing and wrestling, not long ago at all that professional, televised and funded, female leagues for sports like basketball became mainstream. All of this was met with considerable resistance and negative media even before trans was a blip on the radar.
Sophie Cunningham is an inspiration. Girls struggling to understand why a lack of support is so common need to read this great article. Anyone new to this needs to know that this piece is just a chapter in the epic novel that could be written about the past 20+ years of leadership’s failure to protect female athletes.
The one thing that really comes to mind is: as far as I know, when deciding that women, too, should compete in sports, it was never a topic that they simply join the ranks of men and compete there.
Sarah, another great column. Thank you for honoring those athletes who spoke up earlier--and the abuse they suffered for speaking up for women. Hopefully we are starting to move past this. I say "starting" because of most of the media and the gender-woo group refuses to recognize that women deserve sex-based rights.
Very much "starting." The media particularly is filled with sportscasters and pundits sputtering with rage at Cunningham's refusal to apologize. The fact that the WNBA, The Fever, Adidas, and a large swath of the fans openly or tacitly approve, if not of her statement, at least her ability to say it out loud is making those headlines seem increasingly out of touch, and frankly, insane
They're crashing out
Let's hope the crashing out continues. Megan Rapinoe on the View supporting men in women's sports--trying to obfuscate the topic by pulling in marriage equality, reproductive rights, etc. And the Ladies of the View just let her get away with it (no surprise).
That's easy for her to say now since she retired, and won't get run over by men on the field.
She wants to act like she can play against men… but it would take a lot more than a short hair cut.
As I recall, she was one of the ones who was jealous that teammate Mia Hamm got a hair modeling contract. Who wouldn't want her hair? If you want a hair sponsorship, don't cut off your hair.
Great story. Very good read. Thank you!
It is plain common sense. Sophie said the obvious. The is really more militant LGBTQ vs everyone else.
Some Dems in very liberal, urban areas think they need to stand with the trans community. They don't. They need to have a truthful discussion with the LGBTQ+ about biology and the importance of fairness in society and sports.
But this is not so easy. I have tried to discuss the matter with trans. They are illogical, condescending and hateful. I honestly wanted to know why they think they can compete against girls. (It was like they were bots. I'm not sure that Russian bots are not driving this conversation, honestly.) They were very hostile. I wouldn't dismiss the Russian Bot Plot to control the narrative of the 2026 election just yet. Strange how trans boys, 1% of 1%, is in the news so much since the 2024 election. Wouldnt you think that education funding for 100% of youth would be more important to discuss than .001%?
The trans supportera have no good reasoning. They want to create another sex, besides male and female. In their minds and hearts, they are convinced they are female. Good luck arguing with that logic, or delusional thinking.
One trans claimed to have known he was really a she when he was five years old. You know how often 5 year olds are right? Honestly, it seems more like a mental disorder, narcissism and non-conformist traits, but you can't tell them that. They want to play sports against girls, and they can't grasp that some girls would get hurt, and it's avoidable.
Thise Dems need to oppose trans against girls in sports, and support the Olympic Committee rules.
The sane people in the LGBTQ group need to kick the T’s and Q’s out for confusing the right to harm girls with actual rights for trans adults. They have created so much hate against themselves and all trans because they want to create another gender with extraordinary rights to dominate young girls in sports. (A competition is fair, so I shouldn't say they want to compete against biological females..)
Trans biys against girls is less the one percent of one percent. .0001. If this tiny fraction of one percent of boys want to play against girls, too bad. Life has rules. Tough titty. They need to see a psychologist for not understanding or accepting biology and respecting that some women, especially smaller girls, would get hurt. Any athlete understands this.
I am not being insensitive. I am standing for the weaker biological girls who would get injured playing against trans males. I will never think a trans boy should compete against girls. It's just madness.
Not long ago I was at the hospital for a pre-op visit. While there, I saw something that I did not see when I was in high school many years ago. I saw a very, frail feminine male with a much bigger, stronger female. She wasn't trice is size, but almost. The size difference is more than chance. If you haven't heard of “hormone disruptors,” chemicals like PFAS’, know they are for real and kids have been exposed to them.
It appeared that the couple was there for the frail male. I don't know what for. However, it should be clear by now that because of hormone disrupting chemicals in the environment, traditional male and female body standards have changed. Some men are weaker, and some women are much stronger.
Whats happening to the youth because of hormone disruptors in the environment is what the discussion should be about, not .01% of young boys who think they can play sports against girls.
Trans in sports is a stupid topic. It's really not a thing. I am glad Sophie said the obvious. The Olympic Committee is right on this because biology matters and fair means fair.
#IsupportSophie
#NoTransBoysVGirls
Her shoes have already almost sold out
Kind of wish they were only pink but that’s just me 😊
Blue details are on colour gradation, so shoe isn't too reminiscent of transgender flag, which was my initial cavil.
Another example of an inspirational female athlete being marginalised is Bethany Hamilton, who spoke about protecting female sporting categories. Rip Curl replaced her as brand ambassador with a trans identified male, Sasha Jane Lowerson (aka Ryan Egan):
https://x.com/AjaTheEmpress/status/2080734886990578122?s=20
Bethany Hamilton is a star, and should have been included in this timeline. My history is not complete by any means. I was reminded of this mixed zone clip from 2016 of mid-distance runner Shannon Rowbury talking about the integrity of women's sports, referencing Caster Semenya. A month after this interview happened, Semenya and two other male athletes with DSD swept the women's 800-meter podium at the Rio Olympics.
Came across on X directly after reading your essay. Compared to the fawning coverage Laurel Hubbard received, Australian weightlifter Deborah Acason received small fraction of his media attention:
https://www.binary.org.au/weightlifting_champion_explains_why_males_don_t_belong_in_women_s_sport
Thank you for sending this link. I had never heard of Deborah Acason. Fascinating, and perfectly, sadly, representative of how women's voices have been minimized or silenced completely.
I joined the discussion about Sophie Cunningham's brave stance about the integrity of women's sports in the New York Times and was pleased with the support she received but also appalled at the vitriol some spouted and also appalled at the sheer ignorance of the clear biological differences and advantages males have, along with the ignorance of the comparison between non elite, schoolboys' performances versus elite female's performances. That should have been enough but it appears it never is. thank goodness Cunningham was not forced to grovel to be allowed to continue to play.
What is wrong with the world? I cannot believe that so many people are spouting such nonsense.
No males in female sport and stop with the trans nonsense terminology.
The "trans nonsense terminology" is how this ideology has become embedded. Really appreciate Sophie Cunningham's plain speaking communication, which will hopefully encourage more currently competing female athletes to speak up for other girls and women.
Thank you, Sarah.
Have restacked the hell out of this, with copious excerpts.
Thanks! I really appreciate the boosts you provide. Doing must best to counter Yahoo Sports and USA Today apoplectic with rage that Cunningham will not apologize for the crime of saying women's sports should be for women. This bullying has always worked before! Why won't she grovel in shame for supporting reality!?
I was putting dinner on the table when I typed this--I'm blaming low blood sugar on typos and words that I was thinking but didn't actually type. Like Impressionism, I hope you can squint at it and get my drift
"I said what I said," should go down in history as the answer to all things RIGHT about fighting back against injustice. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Common Sense are a FOUNDATION of justice and freedom. Title IX merely CLARIFIED that these truths are for women and girls, too. It should not have had to be said, but it was necessary. Yes, few famous or important women have publicly stood up for women's and girl's rights as they pertain to FAIR competition, from at least 7th grade, high school, college, professional and other international competitive venues. What stood out to me during the last Olympics is the utter silence from two stand out female athletes who had the credentials to turn the issue of a male Olympic boxer knocking women out in the boxing ring into an international scandal - just on their say-so. Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. Granted, Simone had her own issues, but if she and/or Katie had shown up for a boxing match with (born a man) Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, who identified as a woman, the whole scam would have blown up then, and possibly saved the humiliation of real female boxers who faced this man. Shame on them. Shame on the Olympics.
As far as Simone Biles andKatie Ledecky go, that was 2024. An eternity ago in this issue. The IOC had not protected women's sports yet. The Supreme Court decision and WTA's policy on genetics testing only happened within the last month. I described the public denunciation of Elizabeth Eddy, and that was not even a year ago. I don't think even big stars like Ledecky and Biles would have been able to affect change in 2024. The world was not ready
Fair. Still, I was profoundly disappointed at their shading the whole issue and about the American press who pretty much ignored it as well.
Majority of legacy media insisted that Imane Khelif was female, since IOC accepted his passport identification (with wrong sex markers) as confirmation of eligibility for female category. There's been so much active disinformation about male athletes with DSDs competing in female category (still persisting) that individual athletes shouldn't be censured for not being across the issue.
Iirc biles really showed her stance when she called Gaines a sore loser.
Thank you Sarah for another great article. It's so hard to keep up-to-date on what's happening in the world of women's sports. One of the most horrible things is reading about some women humiliating themselves by groveling and apologizing for stating the truth. One thing is obvious, this sports situation is exposing a deep and putrid well of hatred of women in much of the male sports community. It also seems obvious that there is deliberate recruitment of female impersonators into women's sports because of the profit motive and the revenue these faux females generate by causing controversy and strife as well as winning for the teams they represent. Blaire Fleming is an example. For the sporrs owners, sports are about money NOT skills. With the proliferation of sports gambling it becomes more likely that owners, colleges and universities will continue to try to seed their teams with trans identified males looking to parade their sexual fetishes before a captive audience and create a spectacle that will sell more tickets and cause more bets to be placed.
Does Canada also make domestic abuse victims publicly apologize to their abusers for "making them" punch the victims in the face?
Seriously. The treatment of Danika Schroeter was Dark Ages cruel.
I had never heard that story before. Even by genderwang cancelation struggle session standards, that was insane.
Alison Sydor told me about it. She didn't just tell me about it--she lived it. She represented Canada in 4 Olympics, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 and was a silver medalist. She should have been in this timeline too because she spoke up for women's sports while she was still competing.
🫶👍👍👍🫶a
Crazy this is even a hot button issue.
Reading these it really looks like there is a widespread backlash against female athleticism. The gender woo woo is being used as a tool to push the backlash against women's sports. It is not the only tool in play, but it has been a very successful tool to dismantle female sports.
Is it a coincidence that trans ppl (men) in women's sports has increased right after increased interest, opportunity and support for women's sports?
Opportunism may explain the individual males entering female leagues, but opportunism does not explain why they are allowed, supported and celebrated.
It was not very long ago at all that female categories were first available for sports like boxing and wrestling, not long ago at all that professional, televised and funded, female leagues for sports like basketball became mainstream. All of this was met with considerable resistance and negative media even before trans was a blip on the radar.
Sophie Cunningham is an inspiration. Girls struggling to understand why a lack of support is so common need to read this great article. Anyone new to this needs to know that this piece is just a chapter in the epic novel that could be written about the past 20+ years of leadership’s failure to protect female athletes.
Thanks for the great column, a real eye-opener.
The one thing that really comes to mind is: as far as I know, when deciding that women, too, should compete in sports, it was never a topic that they simply join the ranks of men and compete there.
You've heard of transphobia? The real problem is transphilia.
sophie volunteered to be the ring girl for the rapist conir mcgregors comeback fight
ur a disgusting idiot