Trans Women in Sports... 🙄
Why do we even care?
I hate sports. As the handfuls of you who actually read my Substack undoubtedly know or can tell, I much prefer the arts. Athleticism is undoubtedly present in theater, music, ballet, and all forms of dancing. But I’ve found my physical fitness thrives learning Fosse choreography rather than on a field or a pitch. Nevertheless I’m fascinated with cis people’s confusion and desire for control over trans bodies in athletics.
My first agent out of grad school, a man who’s name and agency I forget because he was so useless and rude, asked me when I told him I was changing my name and gender, “is this going to be a social transition or a medical one?” Why he needed to know that doesn’t matter and I don’t care. But it speaks to cis people’s morbid fascination with transness.
Recently I saw a TikTok (here’s the same video on Instagram) where a young trans girl, AB Hernandez, is at a track meet. She participated in three events and only came in first in one of them. The information out there varies, some say she won by seven feet, NY Post says eight feet. I won’t put the link here because I don’t want that clickbaity site to get more views. Suffice it to say, she’s a good athlete, but outperformed by her cis counterparts. Also, she’s in high school, and not afraid to show her face to the cameras and the vitriol of the Right even after being doxxed. Now, that’s actually brave.
At said track meet adults hock t-shirts with big bold print insisting “PROTECT GIRLS SPORTS.” The irony being that they’re the ones causing harm to girls’ sports by yelling at a young lady, and causing a scene. But sure, you’re protecting young women 🙄.
Sports Illustrated commented that three Orange County high schools, one Catholic and two Lutheran, drafted a letter cruelly misgendering Hernandez and claiming four of their female students would compete with her. That’s right only four. They claim Hernandez would “likely dominate the competition and handily win all three events.” Which she didn’t. She lost two out of three. Meanwhile, I’m sure this track meet would have drastically changed their four students lives for the better. Maybe they’d even become Olympians. (sarcasm font) 🙄. They then go on to use their passive aggressive and religious zealot rhetoric to say “we hold no malice toward this particular student. We do feel compelled, however, to take a stand for the right, duties and dignity of our young women.” Because misgendering and causing a scene and screaming in a highly undignified manner at a children’s track meet shows you hold “no malice.” 🙄 The affected virtue and hypocrisy reveals itself with ever word they write.
This week I really didn’t want to go on a rant about how foolish this whole argument is, but I guess that’s where I’m going. My mind won’t rest until I let people know how beyond stupid and ridiculous this entire argument is. I am not a scientist but I have research and just plain logic on my side.
Here we go.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in trans women typically uses two drugs: spironolactone and estradiol. Each woman is unique and may use her own cocktail of medications prescribed by her doctor, but these are the usual tools we use. Spironolactone is a testosterone blocker and estradiol adds estrogen to the system. I won’t go into all the ways these drugs work and they're many side effects, because, again, I’m not a doctor, but I do know how to make things fun and accessible.
Spiro makes you have to pee all the time, your skin less oily, gain weight, and makes your muscles weaker. You heard that right: weaker.
Estradiol makes you emotional, add feminine curves (again, weight gain), mood swings, and your skin glows.
There are many, MANY, more idiosyncrasies to these two drugs that I won’t get into. And I’m sure there are people reading this with a raised finger thinking, “well, actually…” and I’m not speaking to them. I’m speaking to the lay person, or handfuls people who actually read this, who want to learn about HRT. So shush.
Back to sports… again, why the fuck am I even talking about sports? These fucking transphobes are incessant. 🙄
There are few, and I mean very few, studies on trans women in sports. But all of them say the same thing: trans women do not have an unfair advantage. If anything, they are at a disadvantage because of their HRT. This Instagram reel I mentioned quotes one that even says trans women have reduced lung capacity.
Anecdotally I have to mention the weakness I experienced on HRT. When I was beginning my medical transition the first thing I noticed was my reduced upper body strength. During COVID I would carry four heavy grocery bags uphill from the Whole Foods near my father’s house easily. Stopping maybe once on the four-block trek, I would arrive home sweaty but not tired. Half a year later when I moved to Brooklyn and was two months into my HRT journey I found myself carrying two bags of groceries, stopping every half a block because I was so exhausted. “I gotta get a gym membership,” I told myself between heaving breaths. “I gotta do push ups.” Why am I so tired? The light bulb turned on a few days later when I remembered some of the side effects of HRT… I happened to be sobbing watching a clip of the Muppets. Mood swings, another symptom. Jesus fucking Christ.
Now this brings up an interesting topic. Not all trans people take HRT. A popular adage amongst the queer community is “Trans women are women, trans men are men, and nonbinary people are themselves.” Aside from being true, it’s a simple turn of phrase that’s repeatable and powerful. But it brings up an interesting point. Not all trans people need hormones to affirm their gender identities. Amongst the trans community, people who believe you need medication and surgical intervention to be considered “really trans” are called trans-medicalists and are generally shunned by the LGBT population. Pick-Me trans girls who pass easily are the usual culprits of this toxic behavior.
Trans minors have a different form of HRT. Because their bodies are still growing, most minors take puberty blockers. There are certain stages of puberty called Tanner stages which I will not go down for simplicity's sake. In the case of trans girls their HRT will inhibit facial hair growth, oil production, development of the Adam’s apple, voice dropping, and genital growth. All things that further down the line will take time, money, and surgery to adjust. And lots of it. So brava for them if they can avoid those further down the line.
But oh no, the next talking point the far Right loves to tote: that the Left are giving children sex-change operations, hence why they cut funding for gender affirming care for trans youth. We’ve all heard the news about it, right? Right??? According to these transphobes with their t-shirts and slogans and screaming at literal children “that’s a boy! That’s a biological boy!” Their fears must have some truth to them, no? That if these trans girls aren’t on HRT, they must have an unfair advantage. 🙄
So the far right, the transphobes, etc., take away the help necessary for trans kids to get the puberty blockers they need to thrive in their own bodies, which again, we’ve established don’t actually make them any harder, better, faster, or stronger and yet they go out to track meets for literal adolescents and scream at them with a vitriol that should only be reserved for Nazi’s and Marvel villains.
Prior to this year trans female National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) members could compete, but not anymore. As of February trans men can compete on their male teams, but not trans women. Thanks Mr. President. 🙄. Disregarding the fact that NCAA trans female athletes have to undergo at least a year of HRT and have their hormone levels checked and assessed to ensure fairness, it’s just sad. On top of that, to sign an executive order punishing fewer than ten people who happen to have a passion for athletics is the most loser, incelly, and pathetic behavior I can imagine.
But I digress.
The last part of all of this, beyond the science, the anecdotes, and the logic, here is the fundamental fact that transphobes love to ignore: trans women rarely win gold medals, we hardly ever come in first place. We don’t change the name of the game. I can’t think of one trans woman who’s been on a Wheaties box for her Olympic prowess? Can you? And that’s not because of the Right’s passion for defaming athletes or rooting for their cisgender sport stars. We simply don’t have the numbers. There are fewer than ten trans athletes in the NCAA. And none have won gold for themselves or their teams. For crying out loud, we aren’t even allowed to play in women’s only chess tournaments. The International Chess Federation’s studies on the matter are taking “further analysis” to see if we have an unfair advantage. Did they not watch The Queen’s Gambit?!
Alas, the Right still loves to play the victim and find more mouth pieces for their hateful rhetoric. Riley Gaines has made her entire spray tanned, bleached blonde career off of tying for fifth place with trans swimmer, Lia Thomas. Not gold, not silver, not bronze, not even exactly fifth, she tied for it. And the judges decided to give Thomas the trophy on the day and Riley had to wait for hers in the mail. To stake your entire bigoted career on one loss is mind boggling, but again, these people love to make a mountain out of a molehill. Fox news has staked their entire channel on that principle.
The hypocrisy of the Right goes on and on. Brooke Slusser, another blonde college athlete from San Jose State University outed her trans teammate and former roommate, Blaire Flemming on her volleyball team. Flemming said she experienced suicidal ideation after the fact. How horrible to work and live together with someone for the shared goal of winning only to experience such betrayal as to have your personal life shared without your consent. Slusser’s main talking point she utilized to get on tv was that Flemming had a spike that could severely hurt people. According to the New York Times “[Flemming’s] standout play was a testament not just to her mental fortitude but also to her work ethic. But to Fleming’s critics, her performance was yet more evidence of the unfair physical advantages she enjoyed because she was born biologically male.” Imagine if those same critiques were said of a cis athlete, how much pride her teammates would feel. “She’s got a spike that could hurt someone! We’re definitely going to nationals now!” But because of one part of Flemming’s identity, she’s now subject to torment from people who have nothing better to do than harass young women.
I hope Gaines and Slusser experience this same type of shame and lack of agency Thomas and Flemming felt. Perhaps they already do and wanted to transfer that self hatred onto someone else. But shouldn’t they want to be kind? When did kindness become so expensive? These haters can’t even look in the mirror and see how mind-bogglingly pathetic their hate is. I usually hope to be the bigger person, but at this point I want justice more than inner peace.
Let’s review:
1. Trans players do not have an unfair advantage according to the few studies out there.
a. According to the few studies, they’re actually at a disadvantage
2. The Right puts legislation in place making it harder for trans youth to receive gender affirming care, thereby engendering an environment for trans players to have an “unfair advantage.” An ouroboros of hate, if you will.
a. Meanwhile, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body of education-based athletics in California, issued a statement saying “[California educational code] permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.”
3. While we do not have the exact numbers of high school aged trans athletes we do know there are fewer than ten trans athletes in the NCAA.
a. The Trump administration signed an executive order banning fewer than ten people from playing sports in their own division.
4. Trans players hardly ever win gold or come in first. They remain boogey women under the beds of transphobic women who tie for fifth place.
5. Two of these transphobic women, Riley Gaines and Brooke Slusser, have made their careers into on camera personalities and talking heads for the Right… but weren’t they just playing sports for the love of the game? Oh no, that’s their trans co-winners and team mates who do that.
Sigh. I’m exhausted and I hate sports.
That’s all I’ll say. I can’t believe the world has encouraged me, an artsy-fartsy actress, singer, and writer, to have an opinion on sports, a topic I could not care less about. And it’s because if I don’t I’ll look like an idiot or like I don’t stand up for my sisters which I will always do. Regardless of athletic prowess or mediocrity, I will stand up for my trans siblings to have the opportunity to play the games they love and happen to excel in.
I have a trans friend who told me I was wrong for my take on all of this. She sent me a DM claiming trans women do in fact have unfair advantages, and we need to drop this and focus on more important matters for trans people like getting our name and gender markers changed on official documents.
I found myself questioning everything. I didn’t want to use the same rhetoric the Right uses, or be so pig headed and stubborn as to not see things from a diametrically different perspective. But after everything I just laid out, I cannot see things from her point of view. I decided in that moment that I didn’t want to argue with a comrade over the internet so I just said “okay.” She went on to send me more messages telling me I was wrong. It made me feel small, and I reminded myself I didn’t have to engage. I said, “you really want to be right about this,” to which she replied, “oh my god.” We haven’t spoken since.
The exchange scared me because it made me question, was I part of the problem? Were the transphobes… gulp 😳 correct? Should I just lay down my metaphorical sword on this battle that I truly don’t care about since sports was never my thing?
But no.
I have done my research, and know my thoughts about this very controversial topic. And from all I’ve read, heard, and studied: trans women belong in women’s sports. As soon as they start winning gold and out performing their cis counter parts, then we can have the conversation these fucked up politicians want to have right now. Until then, shut the fuck up and let these women play their damn games.
Coincidentally, this week was the makeover challenge on Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars. Each season they have a different subject for the makeovers ranging from family members, military personnel, even male crew members from the show itself. This season they have female NCAA basketball players from the LA area, schools repped included UCLA, UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount, and others. Though they did not discuss it on camera, I wish the queens had asked them their thoughts on having trans teammates. Drag Race rarely shies away from difficult conversations, and I realize they filmed this season over a year ago, but it was surprising they didn’t even acknowledge it, especially given there are two trans queens giving the makeovers, Aja and Bosco.
The fact that people even care enough to keep trans women out of women’s sports shows just how pathetic the Right is. Also, it’s hilarious and horrifying to masquerade hate as fairness when you just want to keep your opponents down. Our country is in shambles and you use what precious time you have to make sure somewhere in the region of eight people can’t play sports?
Get a life Mr. Trump, and clear your history, I’m sure there’s Porn Hub searches for trans women that would make your constituents shiver.