Transgender athletes continue to come under fire.
A few weeks back, USA Powerlifting found themselves under fire as they banned a transgender athlete from competing at a powerlifting meet. The subject is a controversial one as there are many who support the ban while others believe that it’s unfair and downright inhumane.
Recently NBC News made a report on the fact that while Transgender athletes are excelling in sports, they are still being discriminated against despite all their success. Many individuals have made the decision to transition into the gender they believe themselves to be, transforming into their true self. It’s a very controversial issue to say the least. Which begs the question: would there be as much resentment in bodybuilding?
We’ve already seen transgender competitions pop up as far as competitive bodybuilding is concerned. But many believe having such competitions support exclusion rather than inclusion which is what transgender athletes truly crave. A level of understanding and sympathy is still needed before transgender athletes are able to compete with their contemporaries without issue.
In the NBC News article, women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova had this to say about transgender athletes competing.
“A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organization is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,” Navratilova wrote in a Feb. 17 op-ed for The Sunday Times of London. “It’s insane and it’s cheating.”
This quote brings to light a very specific issue as far as this argument is concerned. The question is further transformed. From the Navratilova’s statements and the many statements captured in the NBC News article, it seems that many have taken issue specifically with biologically born men who transition into women competing against biologically born females. There’s this underlying issue and question as to whether these transgender athletes have a natural advantage over their female counterparts.
For instance, if a biologically born woman transitioned to becoming a man, entered male competitions and dominated, would their be more or less of an outcry? It’s certainly something to consider. From the reports of vitriol so far, it seems that the biggest dispute has to do with athletes who transition from being biologically born male to females and less so the other way around. This kind of thought process could potentially be dangerous however as in either circumstance discrimination has been prevalent.
Yet it still begs the question: if a biologically born female transitioned and was able to become Mr. Olympia, what would the response be like? Would it be positive or negative? It’s certainly something to consider in such a male dominated endeavor as bodybuilding. Perhaps the bias in bodybuilding would be less so as the competition is you versus you for the most part. Bodybuilding is all about becoming the best version of yourself which adds an entirely new layer to proceedings.
This issue is one that is unlikely to be solved any time soon, but what is certain is that the conversation must continue to be conducted. While those on either side of the issue will have strong opinions on the subject, it’s important that everyone is heard and that individual’s fears, anger, distress, and opinions are all heard and given equal weight.
What do you make of this controversial issue?
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Source: NBC News
