If you read or listen to certain media outlets, you might be under the impression that an army of
men, dressed as women, are coming to destroy everything you hold dear in your life. They're
coming to invade women's sports, indoctrinate little children and spy on sorority houses.
If you believe all this, I have some prime ocean-front realty in Wyoming to sell you. Complete
with a bridge.
Compete Like A Girl
The biggest front of the culture war over whether transgender people should be treated the
same as cisgender people is in sports.
For years, transphobic narratives have been spewed which paint transgender women as
nothing more than men who couldn't compete in their own category. Apparently, it is much
easier to take estrogen, block testosterone and be faced with death threats than it is to condition
oneself.
Historically, finding ways to police whether or not a woman athlete was transgender or not has
backfired on the very population they purport to protect: cisgender women.
Remember Caster Semenya of South Africa?
Semenya, and other cisgender women, were blocked from competing in the Tokyo Olympics
because of their naturally high testosterone levels. The only way they could compete, in fact,
was if they were to take medications which blocked their testosterone levels. The argument for
this was it would create a level playing field and ensure fair competition.
It just comes down to the chromosomes, though, right? Everyone knows that women have XX
chromosomes and men have XY chromosomes. Except for people like Semenya, who are
cisgender women and have XY chromosomes. Not to mention, there are at least six types of
chromosome variations beginning with the commonly known XX and XY and including
combinations such as XXXY and XYYY.
Semenya and other cisgender women with DSD (Difference of Sexual Development) aside, the
argument is still made that barring transgender women from competing in women's sports only
helps cisgender women. What this does, in fact, is reinforce outdated stereotypes that cisgender
women are the "weaker sex." And while people are clutching their pearls about transgender
women competing in sports, the various state laws reinforcing these stereotypes have backfired
similarly to Semenya and the Olympics.
Let's look at Mack Beggs, a transgender male wrestler from Texas. Due to state law, Beggs was
forced to compete according to the sex assigned to him at birth. This meant Beggs couldn't
compete with cisgender men, but had to compete with cisgender women. Beggs went on to win
the Texas Girls' 110 pound Championship.
Finally, there's Lia Thomas, the trangender female swimmer who was a lightning rod for hate in
2022. Thomas, it was alleged, had an unfair advantage over her competitors because she was
a "biological male" and could easily beat her cisgender peers. Except, aside from winning the
women's 500 yard freestyle race, there is little evidence to show she had some unfair
advantage over others.
According to The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lia-thomas-
trans-swimmer-ron-desantis-b2091218.html), a total of 27 NCAA records were broken in the
women's category. None of them belonged to Thomas and 18 of them belonged to Kate
Douglass, a cisgender woman. In fact, Thomas' time in the 500 yard freestyle race made her
only the 15th fastest college swimmer in the women's category. Not exactly blowing the
cisgender women out of the water, so to speak.
Trust Men, But Not Trans Women
One of the other major arguments against the inclusion of transgender women in anything is the
threat of sexual assault they pose to cisgender women.
While there have been cases of transgender women commiting sexual violence against
cisgender women, it is almost a statistical anomaly. Transgender women are far more likely to
be victims of sexual violence rather than perpetrators of it. Additionally, recent research has
shown that transgender youth are four times more likely to experience sexual violence than their
cisgender peers and are less likely to commit it than their cisgender peers.
This concern over sexual violence and cisgender women would almost be believable, if there
wasn't so much evidence to bely it. In the United States, a rapist can sue for parental custody of
a child conceived by their victim from their sexual assault. In fact, only 15 states have passed
laws which terminate their parental rights (https://prismreports.org/2022/03/22/in-multiple-states-
rapists-can-sue-their-victims-for-parental-custody/).
Let's not forget cases such as Brock Turner, in which he raped Chanel Miller while she was
unconscious and was given a slap on the wrist by the judge because of how it might impact his
future. Let's also not forget the number of state-level abortion bans which outlaw the procedure
even in the case of rape and incest.
Language Matters
When we were all in school, we memorized the chant "Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me." The phrase, while well intentioned, was far off the mark. It is often
words which lead to the stick and stones.
The term "biological male" is not some neutral term, fairly presenting both sides of the
argument. It's the same as using the term "pro-abortion" over "pro-choice" or "racially charged"
over "racist." There is a reason that word is used and it's a way to dehumanize those who are
some of the most marginalized and who are at the greatest risk of harm from others or
themselves.
It's a dog whistle, used in the same fashion as "thug" and "ghetto" for black people or the term
"Soros-backed" to hide anti-Semetic language.
This language may seem to be "just words" or "someone's opinion" has very real
consequences. Since 2013, there have been 302 violent deaths of transgender and gender
nonconforming people in the United States. Last year, there were at least 32 violent deaths
according to a report from the Human Rights Campaign. That's not including the number of
transgender people who die by suicide.
According to a report released in 2021, transgender and nonbinary youth who reported gender
identity acceptance from at least one adult had 33% lower odds of reporting a previous year
suicide attempt. Similarly, transgender and nonbinary youth who were accepted by at least one
peer had 34% lower odds of reporting a suicide attempt the previous year.
Transgender and nonbinary youth are four times more likely than their cisgender peers to
attempt or commit suicide, including those who are in the LGBQ community. That number
drastically decreases if they feel they are accepted by adults and other youth.
The rallying cry in support of this language is "protect the children." Yet, the transgender girl
who wants to compete in girls sports is also someone's child. They're not a cisgender male in
their mid-30s trying to get on a girls basketball team.
They are a child, looking for a place to belong and wanting to be included just like anyone else.
At the end of the day, this language should sound familiar.
The claims of "following the science" of there being only two sexes and two types of
chromosomes should sound familiar. It's the same pseudo-science which claimed black people
were mentally inferior to white people, that Jews were genetically predisposed to greed and that
vaccines are the cause of autism. It "others" things which we don't understand or want to
understand and makes it easier to dehumanize them.
If you think it doesn't matter, the language you use or how you talk about transgender people,
just remember that there may be someone in your life who is and has decided they can't trust
you.
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