Apparently the IOC are debating the rules on inclusion of transgender and intersex athletes. AFAIK they have not asked for public engagement. Nevertheless this is a copy of my e-mail to IOC members. Long thread, not written for Twitter ! @fairplaywomen @sharrond62 @iocmedia

Dear IOC

I am not an athlete or politician, but I am part of your global audience for the Olympics and feel that you should hear from your “public” on this issue. My arguments are simple, put simply and not part of any “ideology” !

The Historical Perspective.
Women’s sports were set up for female competitors when the terms “woman” and “female” were nearly always used interchangeably.

Women’s sports were set up because of the simple acknowledgement that, in most sports, the female developed body can be just as athletic as its male counterpart but cannot be competitive with the male because of differing physiologies.

Therefore, women were given their own competitions and, where physiologically appropriate, these competitions have different parameters to the men (e.g. hurdles, gymnastics).

In a very few sports, such as Equestrian, men and women have not been separated because their physiological differences do not affect their competitiveness.

The Biological / Social Perspective
Although the dictionary definition of “woman” is still “adult human female” the concept of gender has become separated from that of sex in certain social contexts
Trans women identify themselves as the gender “woman” & some claim to be female

We know from basic biology that sex, male or female, is determined at the moment of conception (Y or X sperm fertilising X ovum) and that this determination is unchangeable until death.
Thus, trans women are males who have changed their Gender Identity (only) from man to woman.

They have not changed sex because this is impossible.

Some trans women will say that they have the paperwork to “prove” they are female.
Such legal or quasi legal documents are issued in some countries – but they are always what can be termed a “legal fiction” as they cannot change the biological reality.

The same person would not have such documentation if they lived under other jurisdictions. Such documentation” is therefore irrelevant to the consideration of trans women in female sports.

The Equality Argument.
Trans women will claim that “as women” they are being discriminated against if they are not allowed access to women’s sports.
As noted above, they are talking about an adopted Gender Identity which does not align with their actual sex.

They cry “transphobia” and TERF if anyone questions their claims, but this is just name calling and not any part of rational argument

Their sex, male, is not being discriminated against. .
They can compete in the male sex class they belong to.

They may not be competitive doing so, but that does not mean they should compete in what would then be a mixed sex group of natal women and trans women (natal males) – just so they can win.

To allow any male to compete against females in women’s sports is however discrimination against the whole of the female sex and is at odds with the reason for separate competition (noted in The Historical Perspective, above)

To deny trans women access to women’s sport is not discrimination. It is a question of qualification. Only XX females should qualify for female, women’s sports categories.

Testosterone and a Level Playing Field
The IOC appears to have been bewildered into allowing males to compete in women’s competition by allowing, on weak evidence, those with reduced testosterone levels to compete.

Reducing T levels will undoubtedly reduce a male’s athletic performance, but the current rules still allow several times any female’s natural levels which in itself is still unfair to females.

But this is not really the point is it? Testosterone is a red herring.

The IOC has, to date, ignored all the rest of the male physiology: the differing skeletal average sizes, structures and leverage, bone densities, lung and heart sizes, muscular development, muscle type etc

I am no medic – but I am sure you can easily obtain access to basic factual information as to why male bodied people are at a competitive advantage to females in most sports from running, to rowing, to jumping, to cycling, to swimming, to tennis and throwing etc etc.

I do not understand why all these clear differences appear to have been ignored to date.
For most of us, it is easy to see the basic differences between sportsmen and sportswomen – just by using our eyes.

The Olympics and the IOC
Do you really think your world audience wants to see fully grown males standing on the podium having beaten their female competition?

Do you really want certain large countries with state sponsored sports programmes to turn up with women’s teams stuffed with male bodied athletes? (if not in 2020, almost certainly in 2024).

Your website promotes programmes to encourage girls to be active and take up sports – do you think they will find encouragement in seeing trans women usurp their places in teams and individual competition?

– or will they think that it is not worth bothering – thus decimating sport for girls and women?

Intersex
To be fair to females, if an intersex person has been brought up as a girl / woman but is then found to have a Y chromosome and is producing male levels of testosterone then the XX qualification should still apply.

Whilst this is not because of any fault on the part of the athlete – and would undoubtedly be distressing – it is the only solution which can be fair to female competitors.

The right to compete
In the Paralympics strict classification applies - one qualifies or does not for any particular class relating to a particular sport.

In able bodied sports that classification and qualification should be far simpler to assess and police: XX for women’s sports, others in the men’s category.

Most of us will never qualify for any Olympics, but the females who rise to the top of their sport should only have to compete against other females where there are separate male and female competitions.

Records
I am sure you have all seen the table showing the ages at which teenage boys in most competition beat the world record athletics times for women.

What records could we have had if Olympic Games had included Ursula Bolt, Joanna Edwardes, Molly Farah, Michaela Phelps, Sally Redgrave & Mary Pinsent?

This is the Pandora’s box that the IOC has opened up by allowing trans women into female, women’s sports.

PLEASE reverse this policy in time for next year’s Olympics.
It is the IOC rule changes which are “trickling down” into different sports arenas around the world.

It is the IOC which must now take the lead in ensuring that female athletes can train and compete in fair, female only, competition once again.
Thank you

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