“It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,” reads a policy from the White House.
“Within the first two minutes of the match, Fox had fractured Brents’ skull and given her a concussion. Fox continued the brutal assault until Brents was knocked out,” according to a fear-mongering reporter covering a women’s wrestling match.
“The new framework is expected to exclude: Transgender women who have undergone male puberty, regardless of current testosterone levels,” based on predictions for the upcoming new International Olympic Committee (IOC) framework.
There are quotes upon quotes targeting trans athletes and their place in sports, slandering and skewing their reputation, ultimately dehumanizing them. It’s done easily, without the blink of an eye, and is seen as normal. Why? Shouldn’t everyone be able to play sports? Are we protecting women’s safety and the fairness of athletics, or are we just enforcing even more control and using it all as an excuse for transphobic idealization? This principle of keeping trans athletes, specifically trans women, out of athletic spaces has gotten so big in the media and politics. United States President Donald Trump published a policy on the subject on Feb. 5. It was titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.
“Many sport-specific governing bodies have no official position or requirements regarding trans-identifying athletes,” according to the official White House website. “Others allow men to compete in women’s categories if these men reduce the testosterone in their bodies below certain levels or provide documentation of ‘sincerely held’ gender identity. These policies are unfair to female athletes and do not protect female safety. It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” the policy continues. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
This policy states that, for the safety and fairness of women in sports, trans women do not have a place in women’s sports. This is simply unfair, and down to the very bottom line, just another way to have control over women. Not only that, but the reasons listed as to why? They fall flat when arguing such a strong statement. It’s known that trans individuals, when undergoing hormone replacement therapy, will have their bodies and hormones change. When a trans woman is taking estrogen, her testosterone levels will drop, and her hormones will be in the same range of levels as a cisgender woman. These changes will then occur in the body, altering muscle mass, strength, the number of red blood cells and stamina to resemble those of a cisgender woman. This eliminates a large amount of the advantage trans women would have over cisgender women in an athletic environment. This has been researched and proven by medical sources as large as the National Library of Medicine, which has their own article on the subject. Yet it is preached so much that it’s unfair and even rigged for trans women to win. When in reality, it is just another form of painting trans athletes in a bad light, pitting them against teammates and fellow athletes.
That is only one way trans athletes are alienated from their teammates. Locker rooms are a very large topic that come into play with trans athletes, and specifically, trans women. This topic includes the very much needed safety issue when in a private environment like locker rooms. While I have never heard of trans women being threats to their fellow teammates and athletes, if safety is such a problem, why not just accommodate the athletes? This could mean providing a single locker room for trans athletes, which would create a space for everyone to feel comfortable. Unfortunately, while simpler, smaller fixes like this are present, it is not a solution that policies like the one I previously quoted are searching for. They simply want to exclude trans athletes from athletic environments as a whole, ignore easy solutions that are compromises for everyone and eradicate anyone they don’t see fitting in the normalcy they cling to.
This can especially be seen with misinformation being reported on scandals involving trans athletes. One such example is Tamikka Brent’s and Fallon Fox’s wrestling match, which occurred in Illinois in 2014. Lucy Collins and Jared Eckert of The Heritage Foundation wrote about the case.
“In September 2014, Fox fought Tamikka Brents,” according to Collins and Eckert. “Within the first two minutes of the match, Fox had fractured Brents’ skull and given her a concussion. Fox continued the brutal assault until Brents was knocked out.”
This quote is effective in telling the reader exactly what happened, except for the subtle word choice that slowly turns it into fear-mongering. Collins and Eckert continue about the “brutal assaults” being done to women by trans athletes; it depicts them as a threat, a danger. Even I was surprised by the content of this story. After all, it’s not common that you hear about a skull being broken in a match like this, right? Well, it turns out the usage of the word skull was in fact another form of fear-mongering done to paint trans athletes in a bad light. Cyd Ziegler, co-founder of the publication Outsports.com, wrote an article debunking the misinformation spread about this match.
“In 2014, Fox fought Tamikka Brents and won the match by TKO in the first round,” according to Ziegler. “During the match, Fox broke Brents’ orbital bone. These are the facts.”
This article also states the facts, straight to the point, but with that subtle difference in vocabulary. This time, instead of “skull,” it was “orbital bone.” Orbital bones are the small, fragile, seven bones that form to protect the eye sockets. Breaking your orbital bone? It’s better known in the sports world as breaking your nose. Now, personally, I have heard of many wrestling matches where someone has broken their nose. It leads me to believe that the usage of the word “skull” in the article was purposeful.
“Yet anti-trans advocates and others have seized on this — intentionally messaging a “broken orbital bone” as a “fractured skull” — to claim it’s evidence that trans women competing against cis women is unsafe and unfair,” wrote Ziegler. “Fracturing an opponent’s skull is so rare that this must be evidence of safety and fairness issues.”
This shows just how much of an effort there is to display trans athletes as dangerous, unfair and unwelcome in athletic spaces. People use fear and villainization to convince others that trans athletes shouldn’t be in their rightful and preferred places in sports. Despite the pushback and arguments against this mentality, it is slowly having a larger impact and working to exclude trans athletes. These changes can be seen in organizations as large as the Olympics and the IOC. In 2021, they released a framework on their regulations and a statement when it comes to intersex, transgender and sex variant people. This statement was incredibly supportive, inclusive and defensive of keeping them and their spot in athletics protected and safe.
“This framework recognises both the need to ensure everyone, irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations, can practise sport in a safe, harassment-free environment that recognises and respects their needs and identities, and the interest of everyone — particularly athletes at the elite level — to participate in fair competitions where no participant has an unfair and disproportionate advantage over the rest,” according to the IOC.
There is a level of support and understanding surrounding the subject that is much more present socially compared to the rest of mainstream media. Unfortunately, this does not seem to last. As Kristy Coventry came into the presidency over the IOC in 2025, there was a distinct shift in the standpoint of this issue, shifting to a stance more protective of women’s safety. The new eligibility policy is said to be released around early 2026 and implemented before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. And it looks like there will be a bit of a change in the policies. The Brabner sports law team predicts some of the changes in an article written by one of its Senior Associates, Catherine Forshaw.
“The new framework is expected to exclude: Transgender women who have undergone male puberty, regardless of current testosterone levels. Athletes with DSD whose endogenous testosterone remains within the male physiological range.” Forshaw said.
It is saddening to me to see the drastic shift that is visible not only in the IOC, but in athletics in general. The media applies so much effort to make trans athletes out to be these villains who are harmful and threatening, when in reality, it’s just someone passionate about sports and their skills in athletics. Why that should be preyed upon, regulated and shifted into this strict set of rules is simply unknown to me. No one should be excluded from what they love simply for the way they present and express themselves.
