Women can’t compete in “Men’s” Sports? Really!?!

August 22, 2025August 21, 2025 Diane HarperLeave a comment

The whole “women in men’s sports” and trans women in sports has gotten completely out of hand

A post on social media commenting negatively on a news article about a woman cyclist in Belgium who was stopped in a race because she was catching up to the men who had a 10 minute head start.

Next up, we have Trans women banned from women-only chess. Why do we even have women-only chess? Even if you accepted that women of similar size and training couldn’t compete with men in a physical activity, what is it about chess that is so physically demanding that women need their own category?

But wait, there’s more! Not to be outdone, The World Darts Federation has Banned women from women-only darts . Again, what is the inherent advantage men have over women that means they need their own special category? And why can’t trans women play with the women? What physical advantage do they have in darts?

After reading and thinking about these issues for quite a while, I remain convinced that most of the hysteria (and I have chosen that word deliberately) is because men are afraid they will be beaten by the women. And there is a long history of coming up with ridiculous reasons to keep women out. For example:

A recent episode of “We Regret to Inform You” on CBC radio was about Bobbi Briggs and Kathrine Switzer, the two women who fought to run the Boston Marathon. In addition to being a really good episode, I finally learned where the advice about not running so your uterus won’t fall out came from. It was Switzer’s doctor. For the record, Switzer ran anyway, it didn’t fall out, and she ran the Boston marathon at 70 (her ninth time).

‘As soon as they begin to be your equals, they will have become your superiors,’ warned Roman senator Cato in the 3rd century BCE, as women protested a law limiting their access to certain goods.

Well. The idea that improving women’s status in society is somehow a first step on the road to total female domination clearly has had quite the shelf life, hasn’t it?

Sat with Nat · trans

Nat chose to engage in a confrontation about women’s sports

April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 natalieh (she/her)1 Comment

Despite my plucky demeanor I do not seek out conflict or confrontations. They do find me though. Sometimes I do the calculation and decide it’s safe enough for me to give it.

Friday April 18 was a stat holiday in Canada. My beloved and I decided to pop in to one of our favourite breakfast spots and then go vote. Advance polls were open for our federal election and we didn’t want to miss out on participating.

We had a wonderful meal. As we were finishing up, a table of four were seated next to us. Michel made a face as they walked to their table. My back was to the group.

He spoke to me in French “We need to leave, I’ll explain outside.”

Despite being in a multi-lingual community we often use French when we need to speak “in code”.

I flagged our server to ask for the bill. Then I saw what was written on the shirts and hoodies of the table next to us.

“Keep women’s sports female.”

“There are only two genders.”

“Say no to males competing as females.”

My jaw dropped. I gave them the stink eye. As our server brought the point of sale I told my partner in code “I’m going to say something as we leave.”

He made big eyes. I knew he worried he would loose his temper. I wasn’t sure I could do better but the hot feeling in my belly prompted me to take action.

My quick calculation was that we were leaving, I would be standing and able to easily get away.

I chose to leverage my cis-gendered, white, middle class privilege.

I switched to English as I stood to leave and faced their table.

“I’m shocked that you would proudly wear hateful things on your clothes in public. My kid is trans. She is excluded from so many things. Why would you think that calling for exclusion of anyone is ok?”

One person asked if I loved women. I wish I had the wherewithal to say something quippy like “So much so I’ve gone down on them.” but I merely said “yes”.

They then started spewing rhetoric about protecting women.

“I do not feel protected by what you are doing. You are being awful. You ruined our time here today with your slogans. I hope you have a terrible day.”

Then we left.

Why did I bother saying anything? These folks were not looking for a debate. They were looking for people to loudly agree or silently implying endorsement.

I refused to allow them to think I agreed with them. I wanted them to take their awful hatred and hide it.

This “movement” is thanks to the American president issuing an order about excluding trans and gender nonconforming people from participating in sport in February.

The American Civil Liberties Union has a lovely article from 2020 on the myths about trans athletes and how those are used to incite hatred.

Four Myths about Trans Athletes.

Cate also wrote about Why the conversation about trans people in sports isn’t about trans people in sports.

This is not about women’s sports but we do need to talk about inclusion in our sports settings.

Sport gives us so much and culturally we are regressing with respect to inclusion. And I’m not having it.

I share this experience with you so that you can think about when you want to confront people. Or take other actions. Any one of us can’t do everything but we can each do something. We need to be brave. We need to speak up. We also need to be safe. I trust you to figure out what works for you.

I’m still thinking of better things I could have said.

Pink and blue letters proclaim “trans rights are human rights”. Designed by Tim P Simpleton. Used with permission.

fitness · sexism · team sports · trans

Who is pushing back against Trump’s ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports? Not the NCAA.

February 6, 2025February 5, 2025 catherine w

Yesterday was National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Women’s Sports Foundation, which sponsors, partners with and advocates for equity and inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports, had a lovely spread on their website here. And they have a fabulous logo for it, too.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day-- two fuchsia rainbows upholding equity in sporting life. — National Girls and Women in Sports Day– two fuchsia rainbows upholding gender equity in sporting life.

Yesterday was also the day that President Donald Trump signed an executive order “prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports”, according to an NBC news report.

The Trump administration’s main leverage to try to force school compliance is loss of federal funding. NPR reported that “Overwhelmingly, schools get funding from state and local sources. Federal funding usually makes up less than 10% of public school revenue, according to government statistics.” This suggests that schools may be able to refuse to submit to the administration’s anti-transgender demands without much damage to their budget.

However, one athletic governing body that seems anxious to comply with transphobic and misogynistic executive orders as soon as possible is the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association).

NCAA’s President Charlie Baker issued this statement on Trump’s executive order after a lack of response from the NCAA on demand to change its policies from advocates.

the NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes. We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.

A clearly transphobic and misogynistic standard, you mean.

The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.

Why should Baker jump to align NCAA policy with the Trump administration’s bigoted pronouncements about who gets to participate in sports? Has he forgotten that in 2016, while governor of Massachusetts, he signed into law legislation that “prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations. It allows individuals to utilize gender-segregated restrooms or locker rooms based on their gender identity.”

I guess he has.

Charlie Baker, current head of the NCAA, looking appropriately chastened. But not enough to stand up to anti-trans bigotry. — Charlie Baker, current head of the NCAA, looking chastened. But not chastened enough to stand up to anti-trans bigotry.

Maybe we shouldn’t be super-surprised at this act of contempt for women and girls in sports. After all, this is the same NCAA that has ignored, underfunded and downplayed the importance and excellence of women and girls’ sports for years. Who can forget the teeny-tiny set of weights set aside for the use of women’s college basketball teams during their tournament play? If you have forgotten, check out my blog post (complete with pictures), showing how little the NCAA cared about women’s collegiate sports until their mistreatment went viral on social media? A small victory in a large battle: NCAA women’s basketball tiny weight room gets bigger

If you’d like to make your displeasure known and perhaps offer some advice for Charlie Baker to take back to the NCAA, you can reach him at cbaker@ncaa.org

And if you’d like to support women and girls in sports, you can learn more about and support the Equity Project, run by the Women’s Sports Foundation. I’ll leave you (for now) with this information and graphic.

But we’ll be back. None of us needs to accept inequity, exclusion, endangerment, or abandonment for wanting to express ourselves through physical activity. We won’t accept it. We’ll be writing about ways some of us are working to respond, and we look forward to hearing from you as well.