Penna Dexter

New Zealand powerlifter Laurel Hubbard recently took two gold medals and one silver in women's heavyweight categories at the Pacific Games in Samoa. Laurel is one of a growing number of male athletes competing, and — unsurprisingly — dominating and setting records in women's sports. Hubbard is now looking to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires that transgender men desiring to compete in the women's division of a sport meet certain requirements, including staying under a maximum testosterone level for at least 12 months prior to their first competition. Testosterone makes men bigger, stronger, faster, and makes it easier for them to add muscle mass. Lowering maximum allowable testosterone levels is supposed to remove any advantage enjoyed by biological males when they compete in women's sports. But it doesn't. A peer-reviewed study published in July in the Journal of Medical Ethics shows that transgender athletes who were born male, but identify and compete as females, have an unacceptable advantage over biological females in athletic competition. Researchers from New Zealand's University of Otego conclude, "the advantage to transwomen afforded by the IOC guidelines is an intolerable unfairness." Their paper stated that, even when healthy biological male test subjects had their testosterone levels suppressed below the Olympic guidelines, they "did not lose significant muscle mass (or power)." The study also found that muscle memory allowed these biological males to retain or rebuild their muscle mass through training. NCAA and IOC officials may insist otherwise but giving biological males opposite-sex hormones post-puberty does not negate the athletic-ability-enhancing effects of testosterone on the male body. There's simply no "level playing field" achieved here. Do we really need studies to support the fact that a biological man would have an unfair advantage over biological women in sports? In today's climate where it's dangerous to tell the truth, the New Zealand researchers were bold to publish their conclusions. We need more scientists like them.