Transgender athletes caught between inclusion and competition

Today’s debates about transgender athletes competing in elite sports remind me of the early days of Title IX when feminists and everyone else in society were trying to figure out how to include women of any kind in school sports. What’s the fairest way?

Some argued for not following “the male model” of athletics, with its long reputation for cheating, winning at all costs, and exploiting young athletes. Inclusion is more important than competition, they argued, favoring the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women’s slogan “every girl in a sport and a sport for every girl” so that all girls could access the benefits of athletics.

But elite women athletes in the early 1970s demanded what the men had — scholarships, and facilities, and many more sports than were available to women. Great minds in the women’s movement and men’s sports struggled to find the perfect system. There was none. Few people were ready to redesign athletics teams so the sexes competed together, but divided by weight, or height, or other factors other than sex. We ended up with separate competitive college sports for women and men, or girls and boys in high school, so that women would get a chance to play and not have to compete with men on joint teams.

In this century, some of the same great minds and a lot of younger ones are trying to figure out the fairest way to include transgender girls or women in elite competitive athletics. Again, there is no one perfect system, it seems.

Sixteen of the 39 women swimmers at the University of Pennsylvania asked administrators not to challenge new NCAA rules for transgender athletes that likely will prohibit transgender teammate Lia Thomas from competing in March’s NCAA championships. An unidentified number of other teammates wrote a letter supporting her right to compete with the team.

The College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association felt that the NCAA punted on the issue by leaving it up to the governing bodies of different sports to pick their own policies. USA Swimming announced new rules this month on the eligibility of transgender swimmers to compete. A three-person panel of medical experts will decide whether a transgender swimmer has a physical advantage over cisgender competitors. Also, her blood concentration of testosterone must have been less than 5 nano moles per liter for 36 continuous months.

Thomas has undergone hormone therapy as part of her transition. But critics claim she still has an overwhelming competitive advantage based on physical changes that she developed during male puberty. Olympic champion swimmer and lawyer Nancy Hogshead-Makar made this argument in Swimming World magazine. She is part of an ad hoc group called the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group that developed a Model State Statute for rules around transgender athletes’ participation. They also propose changes to Title IX’s regulations and to the Equality Act that was passed by the House of Representatives and is languishing in the Senate. The group has an impressive list of supporters including big names in sports.

Hogshead-Makar was part of a November 4, 2021 online seminar on the topic moderated by long-time Title IX stalwart Donna Lopiano and hosted by The Drake Group. They took a deep dive into the topic of “The Transgender Athlete in Girls’ and Women’s Sports.” You can see a video of the hour and 45-minute session at that link. Besides Lopiano and Hogshead-Makar, the panel included Olympic champion swimmer Donna deVarona, transgender runner Juniper Eastwood, transgender marathoner and medical physicist Joanna Harper, and Tracy Sundlun, former college and Olympic running coach and manager.

This was a strongly feminist and trans-positive discussion dedicated to figuring out the best rules for everyone, incorporating scientific studies and loads of experience. Again, watch the video and see what you think. But like in the 1970s, I fear there is no perfect system in the way sports are organized today.

One odd thing that struck me when I watched the live broadcast of the discussion was that when Tracy Sundlun–the only dude on the panel–spoke, he seemed to me to have an odd smirk on his face. Was he just proud to be the only man on the panel, I wondered? Then, during his remarks, a naked man started dancing behind him, visible to many of the mostly women watching on Zoom. The Drake Group sent out an abject apology two days later, and Sundlun claimed he had no idea it was happening as he talked. Personally, I find that hard to believe. (Note: The naked man does not appear in the video that’s now online.)

As in the 1970s, well-intentioned people are caught between the goals of inclusion and competition in school sports. Many women’s groups argue for blanket inclusion of transgender athletes, to just “let them play” in favor of inclusion. But to some elite-level athletes, this isn’t just a game, and sports need better rules on what’s fair or not.

It’s a matter of participation or competition. Here’s a thought: Maybe we should make elite sports professional endeavors, separate from schools and colleges, so that school athletics can welcome everyone. People have been arguing for years that football and men’s basketball are businesses anyway.

But do I think that’s the best system? Not necessarily. There is no such thing.

Elsewhere

California State University, Fresno (which appears repeatedly in my book) is back in the news, accused of not fulfilling its duties under Title IX. Former CSUF President Joseph I. Castro, who now is chancellor of all California State Universities, may be investigated for allegedly ignoring 12 complaints of sexual improprieties by another administrator over a six-year period.

At Harvard University, 38 faculty members signed a letter challenging the university’s decision to bar a dean from teaching or taking on new advisees after two investigations supported reports of his sexual and professional misconduct. The writers basically claim the misconduct didn’t happen without knowing which misconduct led to these sanctions. Good grief.

In a span of five days a community college in Colorado got hit with three lawsuits for sexual harassment and gender discrimination, filed by staff and students

Men’s sports teams and fraternities have long been the more common centers of sexual harassment and assault. The University of Utah suspended fraternities and sororities recently after a second report of sexual assault.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. plays by different rules than most other public high schools. A D.C. Council member wants to tighten oversight because of separate claims of sex abuse by the same faculty member filed years apart.

A federal judge kept alive a lawsuit by women swimmers against Michigan State University after the school cut the swimming-and-diving programs for both women and men.

More high school students are on the move. The latest to walk out complaining of poor policies around the handling of sexual assault are students at Centreville High in Fairfax County, Va.

Students and parents raised concerns about Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ handling of two complaints of sexual assault at Hopewell High School, Huntersville, N.C.

On the up side

The various college athletics conferences will be promoting feel-good events about Title IX over the coming year at competitions and online. The Big 12 Conference will, as will a three conference-wide campaign by the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 Alliance. Many individual colleges and universities plan similar efforts. Let’s hope they avoid the tone of triumphalism that reemerges at every Title IX anniversary and acknowledge where improvements still are needed.

Where you’ll find me

I’ll be speaking on a virtual panel at the American Historical Association in February. I’ll also be leading a two-hour Zoom class on Title IX history for the Osher Center for Lifelong Learning at Dartmouth this month. On April 2 I’ll be in Boston speaking on a panel at the Organization of American Historians conference.

And I’m cooking up some events for April on both the east and west coasts to celebrate the publication of 37 Words. Stay tuned for more on those!

You’ll find links to preorder 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination here. Preorders are so helpful! Thanks for your support.