I believe that trans athletes should not be able to compete in gender-specific Olympic sports. However, I do think that a competition between transgender women and men should be made.
A common question among many people may be, what is transgenderism? Transgender people are people who identify as a gender different from their biological sex. For example, a transgender woman may identify as a woman, however; may have been declared a male at birth. This woman would go by the pronouns (she/her) rather than her past pronouns (he/him).
One popular trans athlete at the moment is Lia Thomas. Thomas was a male according to her anatomy but transitioned in May 2019. This recently brought up a controversy because many people thought this was unfair. As BioMed Central explains, “…women have proportionally more fat mass and men more muscle mass.” Because of this, men are thought to have more advantages when it comes to sports. Although Thomas had to take a break from hormones for a chance to enter, many still think she has a larger advantage than other female athletes.
Participants, especially biological females, aren’t able to change their bodies to be more masculine so, trans women are naturally born with a “better figure”. This is why many sports have two different competitions: one for females and one for males. However, due to the rise of conversation regarding LGBTQIA+ rights, many sports are still figuring out a solution where trans individuals are being included fairly. Many people believe that because male and female bodies naturally differ, transgender athletes should stick to their biological sex. While others believe they should be able to compete in whichever category they identify with.
Because no one can agree on which solution is the best, another solution that has been recommended by many would be that the Olympics and national sports open up a competition for transgender men and women. I agree with this because, these athletes would know that others may have bodily advantages, however, still enter the competition by their identifiable gender. This compromise would allow everyone to participate and also be fair towards other players.
