Why do some women support males in women's sports?

According to a Gallup poll, a larger majority of Americans now (69%) than in 2021 (62%) say transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth sex. Likewise, fewer endorse transgender athletes being able to play on teams that match their gender identity, 26%, down from 34%.

That’s all fine and good. I guess. Well, not really. I’m still puzzled by that 26%. And here I’m going to detour and and assume, as does ChatGPT, that these 26% of people on the street are thinking specifically of males who identify as female and want to participate in the category that matches their gender identity, because females who identify as males are a non-issue. Females who identify as male are rarely mentioned because they are at a sports disadvantage in the male category, and merely prove that sex rather than gender identity is what matters in sports. So that 26% is supporting males in women’s sports rather than transgender people in sports.

Back to that 26% of Americans who support trans-identified males in women’s sports—I don’t understand why they do. Women specifically, female athletes even—why would they support an idea that is, to me, so blatantly anti-woman? What am I missing? Billie Jean King. Women’s Sports Foundation. Oiselle, a by-women-for-women company. Women writers and editors who write about women’s sports. Friends who have daughters. Why do they support trans-identified males in women’s sports?

The natural way to find out is to ask them. So I did. I got radio silence or slogans—a trans woman is a woman. One writer who has written several articles praising inclusion of nonbinary and men who identify as women said she was not qualified to speak on this topic. An editor was only too happy to chat about sex and gender until she followed the link to The Female Category and realized I might not completely agree with her.

I can answer the question of why I support women's-only sport with science, data, examples. I can explain my reasons without using a slogan. Since including biological men in women’s sport is a totally novel idea, which did not exist even twenty years ago, one would think the reasons would be many and persuasive. But they are not, or at least few will bother to articulate them. The unwillingness to lay out reasons for taking what can only be thought of as a radical stance seems to indicate uncertainty. As if maybe they’ve inculcated some talking points but haven’t given it a whole lot of thought beyond that.

Since I got nowhere by direct inquiry, I had to turn to indirect methods.

I asked Irish psychotherapist Stella O’Malley why some women support trans-identified males in women’s sports. She replied via email: “There are a range of reasons, for example, women have been socialised to be accommodating to men's needs for millennia. Evolutionary psychology also leads us to believe that women are accommodating to other people's needs because of the evolutionary instinct towards community and consensus. Many women believe that transwomen must be very fragile because they want to be women, and so they feel protective towards them.”

In these examples, women understand that trans identified males are indeed either males whose needs should be accommodated even above their own, or at least someone other, outside femaleness, who requires acceptance, again, even at their own expense.

Next, I turned to ChatGPT: Support for transgender athletes in women's sports can vary among female athletes, just as it does among the general population. There are several reasons why some female athletes may support the inclusion of transgender individuals in women's sports:

1. Inclusivity and Equality: Some athletes believe in the principles of inclusivity and equality. They argue that transgender women should have the same opportunities to participate in sports as cisgender women, as long as the rules and guidelines are followed. They see this as a matter of fairness and human rights.

2. Transgender Rights: Athletes may support transgender individuals in women's sports to stand up for the rights of transgender people. This can be a matter of advocacy for broader civil rights and recognition of gender identity.

3. Medical and Ethical Perspectives: Some athletes may base their support on medical and ethical arguments. They believe that the physical advantages that may exist for transgender women due to previous male puberty can be mitigated through hormone therapy and other guidelines established by sports governing bodies.

4. Respect for Gender Identity: Supporters often stress the importance of respecting an individual's gender identity. They argue that gender identity should be the primary factor in determining which category a person competes in, rather than assigned sex at birth.

5. Existing Regulations: Many sports governing bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and NCAA, have established guidelines for transgender athletes, requiring hormone therapy and a specific period of hormone-related transition. Some female athletes may support these existing regulations and believe that they sufficiently address any concerns related to competitive fairness.

It's important to note that this is a complex and evolving issue, and not all female athletes hold the same views. There are also concerns from some female athletes about the potential advantages that transgender women might have due to factors like bone density or muscle mass developed during male puberty. Striking the right balance between inclusivity and fairness is a challenge that sports organizations and society as a whole are working to address through evolving policies and guidelines. The debate over transgender participation in women's sports continues to be a subject of discussion and study.

In looking through ChatGPT’s response, it’s clear it sees the overarching reason is belief in gender ideology. That some males have an innate female identity, and that this identity trumps their sex. Numbers 3 and 5 rest on the same assumption—that with enough hormonal hobbling, sports organizations have discovered a way to make it fair for males to compete alongside females. Use of gender ideology language—cis, transgender women (rather than male who identifies as female), and reference to “balancing fairness and inclusion”—point to that service’s lens on the topic.

Billie Jean King has gone on the record with reason #2, above. She told Sports Illustrated: “There is no place in any sport for discrimination of any kind. I'm proud to support all transgender athletes who simply want the access and opportunity to compete in the sport they love. The global athletic community grows stronger when we welcome and champion all athletes – including LGBTQI+ athletes.”

In one very unscientific example, a friend of mine has a trans-identified male sibling. Naturally, my friend loves her sibling and is delighted by how much happier he is thinking of himself as a woman. My friend could not see how his transition could negatively affect anyone else, until I explained sex differences in sports. She was unaware that trans-identified males had ever competed in women’s sports, had never heard of Lia Thomas, of Laurel Hubbard, or any of the raft of male cyclists racing in the female category. The only message my friend had absorbed as far as trans-identified males in women’s sports go was “this never happens.”

And messaging is, I think, a major driver in why some women support trans-identified males in women’s sports. Constant and universal use of gender ideology language and ideas—cis, referring to trans-identified males as trans women, gender identity—across nearly all mainstream media has been extremely effective at normalizing the idea that accepting males into female sports is a human rights issue, that it’s the new gay rights, that one needn’t have a reason, in fact, shouldn’t look for a reason beyond that it’s the right thing to do. A trans woman is a woman. That’s all you have to know.

If you either support trans-identified males in women’s sports or know someone who does, please share your reasons in the comments. I obviously don’t share that perspective, but would really appreciate hearing from those who do.