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Gender Ambiguity, Transgenderism and Women's Sport

Every essay Quillette has published on gender ambiguous and trans-identified men competing against biological women in sport.

· 3 min read
Athlete holds up barbells in front of a "Tokyo 2020" Olympic sign.
Trans-identified male athlete Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand competes in the women’s over-87-kilogram division weightlifting event at the Olympics, on 2 Aug 2021, in Tokyo. Luca Bruno / AP.

With the 2024 Summer Olympics currently taking place in Paris, you may find the following list of essays useful. These are pieces we’ve published on the topic of trans-identified men or intersex athletes competing against biological women in sport, a topic we first covered in 2019 when most publications were too afraid to touch it.

The articles below explore the implications of men competing against women in professional sport.

Sex Differences, Gender, and Competitive Sport
What are the physiological and anatomical differences between men and women that affect performance?
Male Bodies Don’t Belong in Female Football
‘This nagging feeling that she had an unfair advantage arose every time we hit each other in practice. For me, it was like hitting a brick wall.’
Confronting a New Threat to Female Athletics
The movement for trans inclusion now begins in youth sports, where many leagues have no restrictions beyond self-identification.
Standing Up to the Gender Ideologues: a Quillette Editorial
Once you sweep aside all the glitter showers, animated unicorns, and rainbow emojis, that is ultimately what gender supremacism is truly about.
Accommodating Trans Athletes Without Rejecting the Reality of Human Biology
As recent studies have shown, these advantages generally don’t go away simply because an athlete has changed their pronouns and hormone chemistry. At the highest levels, the difference between male and female world records typically hovers around 10 percent.
Gender, Sex, and Powerlifting
With a biologically male athlete poised to break a Canadian women’s record, it’s time for the sport’s leaders to acknowledge the reality of sexual dimorphism.
Disc Golf’s Lia Thomas Moment
As a biologically male player continues a meteoric rise on the female circuit, women are starting to speak out.
Ignoring Biological Reality Puts Female Hockey Players at Risk
A frightening injury at an NHL-sponsored transgender tournament in Wisconsin reminds us why women’s leagues should remain sex-protected spaces.
The Damage Caused by Trans ‘Inclusion’ In Female Athletics: a Massachusetts Case Study
A single biologically male high-school student has invaded female categories in at least four different sports—negatively affecting hundreds of girls and women in the process.
A Victory for Female Athletes Everywhere
When we are told that 46, XY males with DSD who identify as female are simply “women with hyperandrogenism,” or “women with high T,” we aren’t fooled.
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