Social contagions can be tough things to stamp out. Case in point: The entire "men in women's sports" phenomenon. It's a part of the entire explosion in people suddenly discovering they are transgender, a great deal of which seems one could write off as a fad. But when it comes to sports, that's a different thing. Supposedly competent adults can opt to "identify" as they please, after all, but there's an old saying that applies here: Your right to swing your fist stops at my nose.
The explosion of "transgender women" demanding to be allowed to compete in women's sports leagues, against women, is a perfect example of this. These men — and let's be honest, I suspect most of them do not suffer from gender dysphoria, but are cynically and cruelly taking advantage of a fad to gain honors, titles, and records to which they are not entitled — can claim to "identify" as a tuna melt for all anyone cares, but they don't belong in women's sports.
In the United Kingdom, former Olympic women's swimming star Sharron Davies has been fighting the good fight. She has a UK Supreme Court decision on her side, and now she's threatening three UK sports organizations with a lawsuit to make them remove men from their women's sports teams.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies is reportedly threatening Parkrun and nine other sports bodies with legal action over their open-door transgender policies.
Davies is calling for Parkrun, as well as the Welsh and Irish Football Associations, to ban biologically male athletes from participating in women's categories, as per The Telegraph.
Parkrun does not divide runners into male and female categories for competition. Runners can voluntarily select a gender identity for the purposes of data recording. It is generally seen as recreational and not a 'competition' against others.
Parkrun, mind you, isn't a sports league in the sense we normally think of them. It's a volunteer-led organization that runs 2k and 5k run events. There are no cash prizes, and no material gain to be had by cheating, which is precisely what happens when men compete in a woman's team. But the Welsh and Irish Football Associations are traditional sports leagues, and they are not responsive to the UK's Supreme Court ruling or the slowly shifting landscape around this issue.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex in a landmark judgement.
Organisations such as the English Football Association and the Rugby Football Union have already cracked down by banning transgender competitors.
Davies and Tracy Edwards MBE have co-signed letters from the Women's Sports Union - which they founded - as well as legal advocacy organisation ADF International.
'Any governing body that continues to permit biological males to compete in the female category contravenes the Equality Act 2010 as interpreted by the Supreme Court. This exposes the organisation to immediate and substantial legal liability,' the letters read, according to The Telegraph, which has seen them.
'Biological sex is not a negotiable category; it is the essential foundation for safeguarding women and girls and preserving fair competition.'
That last line is key. Why? Here's why, and I'm going to tell you (again). Men have significant physical advantages over women in almost any physical sport, and British football certainly qualifies, as does distance running, for that matter. Men, even after hormone treatments, have more muscle mass for their body weight, more fast-twitch muscle fibers, more cardiovascular capacity, more endurance, and more strength, especially upper body strength. Men can have a higher tolerance for injury than women.
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The UK Supreme Court, however, has given the pro-woman side of this debate a big new lever to pull.
The question over whether transgender women can participate in women's sport has been a high-profile issue in recent years.
So the UK Supreme Court's ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex is likely to have implications for sport at all levels from the elite to the grassroots.
On Wednesday, judges at the country's highest court determined that the "concept of sex is binary", and that a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) in the female gender "does not come within the definition of a woman".
It's still a high-profile issue. But the tide is turning. And, we have to say, it's about time.
Remember, there's a lot more to this than just the competition angle. The UK Supreme Court ruling cuts through a lot of corral litter in other areas, too, like feather-headed policies allowing men in women's spaces, like bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. That's all done past in the United Kingdom now, or at least, it should be. It will probably be some time yet before all the implications of the UK Supreme Court ruling trickle down to actual practice.
This practice was too contrary to reality to continue, on either side of the Atlantic, and when Britain starts to show some acknowledgement of reality in a case like this, you know that we're winning. The fight for women's sports and women's safe spaces isn't over, but it's proceeding, and we're winning. And that win is for women and men alike.
