The End of Women's Sports
Selina Soule was one of the top five female high school sprinters in Connecticut... until competing against biological boys changed the game. Now, women aren’t just losing their races — they’re losing their chances to compete at all. Why is this happening? And what should we do about it?
What did it take for Ms. Soule to become a top female sprinter?
She had to train with her team every day for at least two hoursShe couldn’t go out after school or hang out with friends on weekendsShe had to get up early every Saturday to compete at a meetThe biological males competing as transgender females won ___ women’s state championship titles.
5101520The biological changes that males go through during puberty are so significant, they gain an insurmountable advantage in strength and in speed compared to females.
TrueFalseHow many high school boys could beat the lifetime best record of the fastest female sprinter in the world?
nearly one hundrednearly two hundrednearly three hundrednearly four hundredThe reason that we have girls’ sports in the first place is __________________.
to generate more money for schools through ticket sales and sponsorshipsto give female athletes an equal opportunity to shine and be recognizedto demonstrate and to prove how much better male athletes are by comparisonto make sure that they have something to do instead of getting into trouble
- Allowing biological boys to compete in women’s sports reduces the chances for girls to compete and win scholarships.
By her sophomore year, Selina Soule was one of the top five female high school sprinters in Connecticut. However, when two biological males who identify as transgender females were allowed to compete in the women’s events, Soule began to lose valuable opportunities to compete. The biological males finished first and second in high school women’s sprint competitions for two years in a row, taking spots that would have been held by biological girls. The two transgender athletes won a total of 15 women’s state championship titles over the course of two years.
View sourceTo fight against what they warn will result in effectively abolishing women’s sports, Soule, two other female athletes, and the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a legal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in June 2019. The complaint maintains that the transgender policy of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) directly violates the requirements of Title IX, which is designed to protect equal athletic opportunities for women and girls.
View sourceThe complaint warns that “the real-world result of the CIAC Policy is that in Connecticut interscholastic track competitions, while highly competitive girls are experiencing the no doubt character-building ‘agony of defeat,’ they are systematically being deprived of a fair and equal opportunity to experience the ‘thrill of victory,’” which simply "cannot be reconciled with Title IX.”
View source- Federal officials said in 2020 that it’s “incorrect” to interpret Title IX as allowing biological males to compete against females.
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement of interest in the Soule vs. Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) transgender athlete case.
View source"Under CIAC's interpretation of Title IX, … schools may not account for the real physiological differences between men and women. Instead, schools must have certain biological males — namely, those who publicly identify as female — compete against biological females,'' reads the Justice Department’s statement of interest. "In so doing, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX." The CIAC’s interpretation of Title IX, the statement asserts, is “incorrect,” explaining: “Title IX and its implementing regulations prohibit discrimination solely ‘on the basis of sex,’ not on the basis of transgender status, and therefore neither require nor authorize CIAC’s transgender policy.”
View source“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. Forcing female athletes to compete against boys is grossly unfair and destroys their athletic opportunities,” said ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb in a press release announcing the complaint against CIAC. “Title IX was designed to eliminate discrimination against women in education and athletics, and women fought long and hard to earn the equal athletic opportunities that Title IX provides. Allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women under this law. We shouldn’t force these young women to be spectators in their own sports.”
View source- In many athletic competitions, biological males have inherent physical advantages to females.
The biological changes that males undergo during puberty are significant, resulting in what can be insurmountable advantages in strength and speed compared to most females. The best 400 meter sprint time for U.S. runner Allyson Felix, the fastest female sprinter in the world, is 49.26 seconds.
View sourceAccording to 2018 data, nearly 300 high school boys in the U.S. alone could beat Felix’s world record.
View sourceAs The New York Times acknowledges in an August 2020 report, males generally gain significant physiological advantages over females during puberty. “At puberty, male athletes generally gain physiological advantages for many sports, like a larger skeletal structure, greater muscle mass and strength, less body fat, greater bone density, larger hearts and greater oxygen-carrying capacity,” the pro-transgender athlete report admits. “As a result, men and women mostly compete in separate divisions.”
View source- It’s unfair to women to allow men who believe they are women to play women’s sports.
Men are born with greater muscle mass, and more fast twitch muscles. They also have greater aerobic capacity. The gap between men’s and women’s world record runs at all distances are between 9 and 10%.
View sourceMen naturally have more bone mass and skeletal size than women, even if they are the same size overall. By average, males have a lean mass of 92% compared with 79% for females.
View sourceFallon Fox, a biological male MMA fighter, was allowed to fight as a woman simply because he identified as one. Fallon left female fighter Tamikka Brents with a broken skull and a concussion. Brents said of her match with Fox, “I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life....”
View sourceDr. Ramona Krutzik, M.D. said that despite Fallon Fox’s hormone replacement therapy, it could take about 15 years to see a decrease in bone mass. She also said, “Women also have lighter, child bearing hips because of the difference in hormones during the body's developmental years...Those changes cannot be undone. They are permanent.”
View sourceRelated reading: “Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female” – Ashley McGuire
View source- Scientific fact: Men and women have major biological differences that hormone therapy and surgery cannot erase.
Men naturally have more bone mass and skeletal size than women, even if they are the same size overall.
View sourceMen are born with greater muscle mass, and more fast twitch muscles. They also have greater aerobic capacity.
View sourceOver the past 15 years, “new technologies have generated a growing pile of evidence that there are inherent differences in how men’s and women’s brains are wired and how they work.”
View sourceNorthwestern neuroscientists found an “intrinsic biological difference between males and females in the molecular regulation of synapses in the hippocampus.”
View sourceRelated reading: “Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female” – Ashley McGuire
View source
I’ve been training to be a championship sprinter since I was eight years old. With the help of my parents, my coaches, and my teammates, I did it: By sophomore year of high school, in 2018, I was one of the top five female high school sprinters in Connecticut.
But then, one day, I wasn’t.
At the state championships that year, two people passed me—passed all of us girls. Literally. They finished first and second in our races, dominating the field.
Were they more motivated? Did they train harder? I don’t think so.
But they did have an edge—a big one we couldn’t match. They were biological boys who said they were transgender girls.
Do you think that’s fair—males competing against females?
Before you make up your mind, let me tell you a bit about what it took for me to become a top female sprinter. It meant training with my team every day after school for at least two hours, working to shave fractions of a second off of my time in the 100- and 200-meter dash.
It meant not hanging out after school or going out with friends on the weekends. It meant getting up early every Saturday morning, and competing all day at a meet. It meant not indulging in any of the things that might cost me my dream.
And here’s the thing about the two biological males that took the top two girls’ medals in the State of Connecticut: Their times were not even good enough to qualify them to compete in the state championships on the boys’ team.
Let me say that again, in case you missed it: Their times were not good enough to qualify them for the boys’ state championships.
But two years in a row, they won first and second place competing against the girls. All in all, these two biological males won 15 women’s state championship titles.
Some in the media have accused me of being a sore loser. They tell me to run harder. But the biological changes that males go through during puberty are so significant, they gain an insurmountable advantage in strength and speed. That’s why boys always competed against boys and girls against girls.
U.S. runner Allyson Felix is an inspiration to me. She’s the fastest female sprinter in the world. Her lifetime best for the 400 meters is 49.26 seconds. But based on 2018 data, nearly three hundred high school boys in the U.S. alone could beat that record.
What we are talking about, then, is not just boys taking women’s trophies—though they are. And we aren’t talking about biological boys taking women’s athletic scholarships—though they’ll do that, too. When biological boys are allowed to compete against girls in sports like track, where the differences in performance are so great, we are talking about girls getting shut out—never getting the chance to win, or even compete at all.
When two biological boys took the first- and second-place spots against me in the 2019 indoor state championship, I lost the opportunity to participate at the New England championships. I lost the chance to be scouted by top coaches, possibly even to win scholarships.
Right now, biological boys are being allowed to set records on the girls’ team—deleting girls’ records, erasing the achievements of actual girls, and setting a standard probably no girl can meet no matter how much she trains or how hard she tries.
The reason that we have girls’ sports in the first place is to give female athletes with talent, hard work, and dedication an equal opportunity to shine and be recognized. But girls will never have that opportunity if they are forced to compete with biological boys in sports like track and field, softball, volleyball, or basketball.
Women fought too hard, for too long, so girls like me can have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
Maybe worst of all: When girls try to object—when we point out the truth that biological differences in strength and speed between boys and girls are massive and real—we’re called bigots. Administrators, teachers, coaches, and other students tell us to just keep quiet and take it. We’re told a girl’s place is to be seen and not heard.
Well, we won’t be silenced. We are fighting back. With two other top female runners in Connecticut, I’ve filed a federal lawsuit under Title IX to protect the rights of women and girls to a fair competition on a level playing field.
Please don’t turn your backs on us, America. This isn’t about gender identity.
It’s about fair play.
I’m Selina Soule for Prager University.
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