The transgender phenomenon will destroy women’s sports

By Jonathon Van Maren

Along with our recent cultural phenomenon of men identifying as women and vice versa and the wide-scale acquiescence of our institutions to the ideology of gender fluidity, a few unforeseen but utterly predictable consequences have been making headlines over the past few years. The most notable of these, if you care about professional sports—which I do not—is the surge in biological men identifying as female cleaning house at female sporting events. From the CBC:

A Canadian transgender athlete has become the first to ever win gold at the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championship. Dr. Rachel McKinnon, from Victoria, B.C., finished first in the women’s 35-44 age bracket in Los Angeles on Sunday. McKinnon was born biologically male.

She tweeted: “First transgender woman world champion…ever*”, with a photo of her on the podium flanked by second- and third-place finishers, Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen of the Netherlands and Jennifer Wagner of the U.S.

McKinnon’s achievement was lauded by some on social media as even more spectacular because she is forced to suppress her testosterone levels to what she deems “unhealthily low” levels as a pre-requisite for competing. Others on social media accused the athlete of cheating, claiming her competing is unfair to cisgender women.

McKinnon, an assistant professor at the College of Charleston Department of Philosophy who studies transgender issues, posted a lecture she presented entitled, “Including Trans Women Athletes in Sport”, in rebuttal to those citing the ethics and fairness of her being allowed to compete.

In an article in USA Today in January, McKinnon argued her competing is not a question of athletic advantage, but one of human rights.

“We cannot have a woman legally recognized as a trans woman in society, and not be recognized that way in sports,” McKinnon was quoted as saying. “Focusing on performance advantage is largely irrelevant because this is a rights issue. We shouldn’t be worried about trans people taking over the Olympics. We should be worried about their fairness and human rights instead.”

I wonder how those who train their whole lives for sporting events feel about a biological male cruising in, crushing the female competitors at women’s sporting events, and then being forced to remain silent for fear of being accused of “transphobia” while a biological male asserts that “performance advantage” is “irrelevant” during sporting events where the outcome is largely determined by performance advantage. But shut up, the trans activists explain: This is not about achieving victory at sporting events that you’ve been training for years for: This is about the right of biological males who identify as females to achieve victory in women’s sporting events.

It is insane to think that not only do we now have to accept gender fluidity as a valid (although unproven) concept, but we also must ignore biological reality—that men are generally physically stronger—in order to cater to the whims of a handful of transgender ideologues. As one outraged feminist on Twitter noted, biological males sweeping into exclusively female events and spaces and defeating the female competition might be real patriarchy. I find that sort of language to be dubious, but one thing seems obvious: The transgender phenomenon will destroy women’s sports.

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