The lunacy of allowing men to participate in women’s sports is recognized by the vast majority as being as absurd as it sounds. So why are sports officials walking on eggshells to please the very few rabid transgender activists who are bullying them into compliance?
It is clear with each story about University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas — a man who now competes against women — that it is incredibly unfair and that Thomas has a major biological advantage. It’s clear to Hall of Fame swimming coach Dave Salo, who coached male and female swimmers for more than 40 years. It’s also clear to Jeri Shanteau, an 11-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion, and Cynthia Millen, a 30-year swimming official who has resigned over this issue.
And it’s clear to the women on Penn’s team, who have considered boycotts and other protests to let people know how unfair they find the situation. Of course, they must leak these updates anonymously because of the backlash they would face for daring to say that a man has biological advantages that they lack.
Only a select few female athletes can really speak out against this destruction of women’s sports. Former women’s tennis players Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are among them, but they have been retired for years. Also, professional women’s sports have not yet been subjected to this form of unfairness in the way that high school and college sports have been.
While the women of Penn’s swim team are forced to anonymously express their displeasure, consider the opposite end of the spectrum. Outsports, a subsidiary of Vox Media, proudly proclaimed Alana McLaughlin as its “Transgender Athlete Advocate of the Year.” McLaughlin is a man who beats up on women in mixed martial arts. In any normal area of life, a man punching women in the face would be considered a crime. For Outsports, it is something praiseworthy. This attitude in favor of male violence against women receives no backlash, yet Penn’s swimmers are forced to hide their true feelings.
Poll after poll after poll finds that a majority of people oppose allowing men to compete in women’s sports, regardless of how sympathetically the question is posed. That’s because everyone recognizes how absurd this is and why we have sex-segregated sports in the first place. But the people in places of power, from the Ivy League to the NCAA to any other sports organization, are beholden to a few loud transgender activists who will hound them the moment they step out of line.
The women at Penn can only do so much knowing their administrators and the officials who govern their sport would sooner throw them to the wolves than behave with even an ounce of courage. The word of retired athletes such as Evert and Navratilova can only go so far. Female athletes deserve a vocal, committed defense of the integrity of their sports. They must hold on and avoid being bullied into silence by an anti-science, social justice-obsessed minority.
