There's an old saying, often trotted about when discussing times gone by, that takes one spin or another on "when men were men, and women were women."
Well, that's true enough, and even now, biologically, men are men and women are women, and there's no middle ground, barring some extremely rare genetic abnormalities. But for some reason, this biological fact has been the subject of debate, not least of all in the sports world.
Now, though, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) which largely governs sports in small, independent colleges, has ruled that henceforth "transgender" athletes will not be competing on women's teams.
The NAIA’s Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes at schools across the country, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.
According to the transgender participation policy, all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy will be allowed participate in women’s sports.
A student who has begun hormone therapy may participate in activities such as workouts, practices and team activities, but not in interscholastic competition.
Again - speaking as a biologist - I'll take issue with the wording where they discuss "biological sex assigned at birth." First, sex is a matter of biology, so the term "biological sex" is redundant. Second, sex is not "assigned at birth," but rather determined, genetically, at conception.
Phrasing notwithstanding, this is a good policy, and it's heartening to see that the Council voted unanimously to return sanity to women's sports. And the policy does seem like a good one; it tosses away the possibility of a woman getting hormone therapy that may yield her some advantage against unmedicated women, while allowing such students to take part in workouts but not to compete.
That, honestly, is a pretty good way to divide the baby.
Predictably, there was some whining, not least of which came from the NCAA.
Hours after the NAIA announcement, the NCAA released a statement: “College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America and the NCAA will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition for all student-athletes in all NCAA championships.”
The NCAA has had a policy for transgender athlete participation in place since 2010, which called for one year of testosterone suppression treatment and documented testosterone levels submitted before championship competitions. In 2022, the NCAA revised its policies on transgender athlete participation in an attempt to align with national sport governing bodies, following the lead of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Here's the problem: The NCAA's policies are horse squeeze. One year of testosterone suppression cannot erase musculoskeletal differences that exist from birth. No matter how many times the NCAA tries to justify this cave to wokeness, it remains hideously unfair to women and girls competing in women's sports in schools where the NCAA holds sway.
This whole issue has been ridiculous from the start; the facts are known, and they have been known as long as people have been aware enough to notice these differences - and may I say, Vive la différence! This is not a matter of debate, but what this issue, once again, illustrates very clearly is the difference between politics and principles. The "transgender" activists are pushing a political agenda, which they will pursue regardless of facts; whereas there is a clear matter of principle involved: It's wrong to let men compete against women when the men have an unfair advantage.
That's always been true. It will always be true.
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Finally, the numbers of students involved:
There are some 15.3 million public high school students in the United States and a 2019 study by the CDC estimated 1.8% of them — about 275,000 — are transgender. The number of athletes within that group is much smaller; a 2017 survey by Human Rights Campaign suggested fewer than 15% of all transgender boys and transgender girls play sports.
Here's the thing: None of those numbers matter. It's a distraction. This is a matter of fact and principle. The facts are that there are measurable differences between boys and girls, between men and women, and allowing men (no matter how they 'identify') to compete on women's teams is fundamentally unfair to women.
The NAIA has acknowledged this, unanimously. Some sanity may well be returning, with things going back to how everyone accepted them to be, only a few short years ago.
Those were the days. And maybe they will be again.
