Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, has issued a bombshell report that states that "over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” due to transgendered athletes competing as females.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males," wrote Alsalem.
Unfortunately, Alsalem neglected to stipulate which athletes in what sports lost medals, nor did she list which trans athletes were at issue. That information is partially contained in a footnote to the report, and it's hoped that more conclusive documentary proof will be forthcoming.
Nevertheless, the sheer numbers should raise red flags with executives in various sports authorities worldwide.
Alsalem has a common-sense solution that will have trans advocates howling.
Sports Examiner: provides a transcript of her comments during a news conference:
“In order to ensure, fairness, dignity and safety for all, including females – women and girls, females – we would need to maintain a female-only category in sports, while at the same time also having more ‘open’ categories for those wishing to play sports in categories that do not respond to the sex they were born into.
“That is one thing. The other thing is, as requested by many women and girls in sports, is to bring back – or actually not bring back – is to introduce sex screening, which as you know was discontinued in 1999.
“So that should be sex screening have become a lot more reliable now, cheap, can be administered in a confidential, dignified manner, should be introduced … as an element of – what was that called – eligibility, in female sports.”
"Addressing the General Assembly, Alsalem noted that male intrusion into women’s sports has raised the risk of sexual harassment, assault, and voyeurism not just in the sporting arena but in the locker room and bathroom," notes National Review's Caroline Downey.
Alsalem argues that the international governing bodies of sports have abdicated their responsibility to female athletes by allowing anyone to compete as a female as long as their testosterone level meets an arbitrary standard.
“Some sports federations mandate testosterone suppression for athletes in order to qualify for female categories in elite sports,” Alsalem wrote in her report. “However, pharmaceutical testosterone suppression for genetically male athletes — irrespective of how they identify — will not eliminate the set of comparative performance advantages they have already acquired.”
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Alsalem is also concerned that athletes who take testosterone-suppressing drugs present sports bodies with an ethical and human rights dilemma.
“As we know from the many studies that we have, males have a biological advantage in sports, especially during and after puberty, and artificial suppression of testosterone does not do away with this advantage. This is what the scientists and the experts are saying, not to mention pressuring anyone to artificially suppress testosterone in order to qualify for any category also raises ethical and human rights issues, which I also spoke about in the report, and should therefore also not be done.”
We rarely see such clear, sensitive thinking on this subject with allowances made for both sides of the issue, but ultimately a ringing endorsement for women and girls in sports.
“When combined with other measures, such as open categories, fairness in sports can be maintained while ensuring the ability of all to participate – a course of action followed by several professional sports associations.”
There are some extremely rare conditions. South Africa's women’s 800-meter champ, Caster Semenya, is afflicted with a rare condition known as hyperandrogenism, for example. One of the by-products of this condition is "increased muscle mass." Biology is not always perfect, and the chromosomes in all women don't always line up to designate "female." But these rare genetic anomalies and should not be used as an excuse to open the "female" category to all comers who take drugs to suppress their testosterone.
I think that Alsalem has proposed a fair, compassionate, and equitable solution to a very thorny problem. And this is exactly why the transgender lobby will reject it.
