Males participating in women’s sports, including male athletes who call themselves “women,” “transwomen,” “intersex women,” and “nonbinary,” have won over 2,933 female athletic competitions (including team victories.) This is a low estimate that is missing the total team victory count in many sports. They have finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in female competitions at least 3,021 times. They have set at least 213 records including 40 school records, 9 state records, 58 national records, and 7 world records. They have stolen over $1,463,401 in prize money from female athletes (not including the salaries of the professional athletes). They have taken over 294 awards and honors that belong to female athletes. They are winning at the amateur, secondary/high school, collegiate, masters, professional, and Olympic level.
There are at least 355 males who claim to be women participating in female sports, but the number of male athletes participating is irrelevant. Even a single male has the potential to disrupt an entire competition. For example, when Craig “CeCe” Telfer came in first at the NCAA national meet in the 400-meter hurdles, he robbed a female athlete of a gold medal. He prevented a female athlete from getting a silver medal. He prevented a female athlete from getting a bronze medal. He pushed each and every female athlete that ran in the competition down a place. He robbed a female athlete of a chance to participate in the finals. He robbed a female athlete of a chance to participate in the semi-finals. And finally, he robbed a female athlete of the opportunity to participate in the national meet entirely. His one instance of participation in a single meet affected over thirty female athletes. One male participating on a women's team affects every athlete in the league. The assertion by a male athlete that his participation affects only himself is an incredibly self-centered view of the situation.
We do not allow single instances of cheating in other sports. In men’s athletics, “just one” athlete caught doping is immediately punished. That athlete is not allowed to continue to participate because “it only affects a few men.” When it was revealed that pitcher Danny Almonte had lied about his age (he was 14, over the cutoff of 12) to enter the Little League World Series, his team was vacated of all wins and he received a lifetime ban from Little League. (Almonte's father falsifying the age on his son's birth certificate is no different than a parent falsifying their son's sex, yet one was punished and the other is now encouraged.) Women’s sports deserve the same respect and the same dedication to fairness as Little League Baseball. Allowing “just a few” men to cheat in women’s sports demonstrates a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of female athletes and trivializes women’s sporting competitions and athletic achievements.
Unfair athletic advantage does not automatically guarantee success. Other factors also contribute to the success of any individual athlete, factors such as physical disability, age, experience, training, and talent. An average man would not be able to beat Olympic female sprinters or marathon runners in a race, but that does not mean he has no athletic advantages over female athletes due to being male. What he lacks is training, experience, and talent.
The men claiming to be women that we see joining women’s sports are often much older, out of shape, and less experienced than their female counterparts. Gavin “Laurel” Hubbard, for instance, was 20 years older than the rest of his female competitors, the fourth oldest lifter to have ever participated in the Olympic weightlifing competition (including the men’s and women’s competitions). It would be incredibly rare to see a woman his age winning against Olympic female athletes in their physical prime, yet because he is male, his age was not a barrier.
“Stephanie” Barrett began archery at 37, a mere three years before he took a place on the Canadian Olympic team. His counterparts had participated for decades, and each had long lists of achievements to their names.
Kyle “Caroline” Layt was a part of the relay team that set a new Australian Women’s Master’s national record. It’s clear from the photo taken at the race that he posted on his blog that his three female teammates have the physical builds expected of world class, national-record holding female athletes, while Layt looks overweight and out of shape. Certainly not what one would expect from an elite sprinter.
These male athletes have neither the athleticism, physical conditioning, nor the experience of their female opponents and teammates, yet they are able to succeed just as much, and in many cases surpass athletes who are much more talented and deserving of recognition.
Overall performance is not as indicative of advantage as relative performance. The vast majority of men who begin competing with women go from finishing near the bottom in men’s competitions to near the top in women’s. If all other men also decided to join the women’s competition, these “athletes” would surely fall to the bottom again. The primary reason for their “success” is due to the fact that they are competing with a male body instead of a female body, a condition under which no other athlete in the contest is competing under. This is why being male is considered a categorical advantage and why the female division was created in the first place.
These men do not deserve praise and accolades for what are truly mediocre, average performances when compared to those of their peers. Recognizing their performances as “accomplishments” also takes away from the male athletes who previously outperformed them in the male category, male athletes who have trained harder and are far more skilled, yet who do not win anything and are not recognized because they are competing in the correct category against peers who are better yet. Many men are unable to compete in high-level athletics despite being very talented themselves. High-level athletics are not for everyone. They are for the exceptional. Men claiming to be women who beat out women to win awards are not exceptional.
“Trans”-identified men are male and as such have every physical advantage any other male athlete has.
When the claim that “trans women have no athletic advantage” is put forth, what is actually being claimed is that males, any male (regardless of self-identification) who blocks his natural testosterone levels loses his athletic edge and the physical differences between male and female bodies disappears. There are no studies that show conclusive evidence in favor of this claim. The numbers on this site would strongly suggest otherwise.
Even if a loss of performance does occur, if a male chooses to destroy his own health and athletic ability by injecting himself with substances that do not provide any physical benefit, that is a personal choice he is making for himself. Women should not bear the consequences of a man’s decision to prioritize his own appearance or aesthic over his athletic ability.
Athletics are about reaching the limits of the human body, transforming the body into its peak physical condition. The idea that one can, of their own volition, use drugs that have known side-effects for cosmetic purposes and then expect to have special accomodations made to ensure they can still be competitive runs counter to good sportsmanship and the integrity of competition.
Men who take drugs to block their performance are giving themselves a handicap. They are destroying an athletic potential that female athletes will never be privy to. It is also inarguably more difficult to build muscle up than to inject oneself with drugs and simply wait until the arbitrary amount of time has passed (most organizations have set it at two years). It is insulting for female athletes to be sidelined and beaten by men who declare their current performances “weak and pathetic” (as many have done) compared to those in their past.
Testosterone levels are arbitrary and subject to change in very short periods of time. We do not compete with testosterone levels. We compete with our bodies. Male bodies are fundamentally different than female bodies. A male body cannot be turned into a female body.
Males possess genetics that give them longer arms and legs, larger hands, lungs, and hearts, smaller values in anterior pelvic tilt, hip anteversion, quadriceps angles, tibiofemoral angles, and wider shoulders. These are differences that are not due to testosterone, and see no changes when testosterone is repressed. Testosterone greatly increases muscle mass, but for those who have already experienced the huge burst of muscle growth that occurs in male puberty, it is not known if later blocking testosterone production truly affects the growth that has already taken place. Performance is also not based on strength alone. There are many mechanics that go into each and every movement we make.
Throwing, for example. Apes are stronger than humans, yet are only able to throw objects at a max speed of 30mph, a speed that is beaten even by 14-year-old boys. This is due to the coordinated motion of our body’s moving parts and the range of motion in our joints. The differences in size, shape, and orientation of the shoulders between males and females leads to throwing having one of the largest performance gaps between the two sexes.
Males and females are not walking hormone levels and our athletic performance is not determined by them.
Athletics are decidedly exclusive. Only the best athletes progress to the next round. Only athletes who meet the criteria of certain categories are allowed to compete. Less than 1% of all athletes are able to progress to elite athletics.
Athletic teams and competitions have limited spots available to athletes. One athlete’s “inclusion” means another athlete must be “excluded.” When males are allowed to participate in women’s sports, they take the place of female athletes on teams and in competitions in a division that was originally created to prevent that very situation from occurring. Female athletes self-exclude over fears of being injured, frustration over issues of fairness, and discomfort over being forced to share changing rooms or be in close physical contact with men. Male “inclusion” in female sports once again prioritizes male participation in athletics over female. When we demand males be allowed to participate in women’s sports, we are saying that their “inclusion” is more important than that of women and girls.
Male athletes already have men’s and open competitions available to them. Despite their claims of being excluded from sports when they are not allowed on women’s teams, they are not excluded from these opportunities at all. They are, in fact, welcomed in them. Many males who claim to be women have competed in men’s athletics. Many males who claim to be women switch between men’s and women’s teams when it suits them. Many males who claim to be women have won medals in men’s elite competitions, something female athletes are not able to do. Many males who claim to be women are supported and welcomed by male teammates.
Males who claim to be women who refuse to try to get along with male teammates, who refuse to compete against their peers, who suddenly decide the men’s team they have participated on for the last ten years is no longer where they “belong,” are choosing to take themselves out of competition by their own free will. They do not deserve a spot in women’s athletics because of this.
Male inclusion in female athletics means female exclusion.
Male participation on female teams gives those teams a leg up in competition. Girls and women on these teams know their spot is secure. They do not have to compete against the male athlete. They do not need to guard the male athlete. They will not be tackled by this athlete. Coaches and teammates enjoy the benefits of having an unfair advantage when their team is able to win tournaments and advance to championships. Many athletes are ruthless in their pursuit of “success” and are willing to use any advantage they can to get there.
Unlike males who claim to be women, some women do not have an issue competing against men. They seek out male competition in order to improve their own skills. They want to beat men to prove themselves. They view triumphing over men as an extra accomplishment, as they know it means they have overcome a large disadvantage in doing so. This does not justify allowing males to participate on teams that are created exclusively for female athletes. Women who enjoy competing with males are able to join open or co-ed leagues. They do not have a right to decide that all women must compete against males as well.
Objections to male participation on female teams is often smothered, ignored, and even in some cases, punished. This prevents female athletes from speaking out when they take issue. Name calling and the threat of expulsion from teams and competitions bullies female athletes into silence and leaves them powerless. They are left with two options: stay quiet and comply or quit the sport that they love. Many female athletes have chosen the latter, leaving teams, dropping out of competitions, and boycotting leagues. For this they are smeared as “transphobes” and “bigots.” Many of these decisions about female athletics are made by athletic boards comprised entirely of men. Some of them even include men who call themselves women and participate on women’s teams, men who have a vested interest in continuing to allow male participation in the female division. Women are left powerless and without options.
Female compliance with male participation does not indicate fairness. It does not indicate consent from all female athletes. It does not reflect the feelings of the majority of women and girls who participate in sports.
(See Myth # 7)
The length of time that males have been allowed to insert themselves into female sports is irrelevant to the fairness and safety issues they present. Interscholastic sports in America began in the 1880s-early 1900s, yet school sports were not widely available to female athletes until the 1970’s. The fact that they were not allowed to play for so long does not mean it wasn’t an issue for them. It does not mean it was fair or right.
Women have been raising concerns about males playing female sports since the first days they have openly joined women’s leagues. Richard Raskin aka “Renee Richards” faced opposition from female athletes when he forced his way into women’s professional tennis in the late ‘70s. In fact, members of the league were reported to be overwhelmingly against it. Even then, women’s concerns were ignored and women standing up for themselves were labeled "cruel".
The general public often does not hear about these complaints because they occur in smaller, local competitions and are easier swept under the rug. Often, parents and players are the only ones who are aware of what is going on.
Schools do not divulge when males are playing on female teams. News outlets report these males as “girls” and “women” or “trans girls” and “trans women” which is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts that misleads readers and does not present a clear picture for them. (Many mistakenly believe “trans woman” to mean a female who wishes to be male rather than a man who calls himself a "woman".)
Those who hear about these stories hear the individual described as “she” and “her.” They do not see the 6-foot, 200lb individual who is actually being described. Without clear language and an honest report of the facts, observers are not able to make informed judgements on the situation.
And finally, any and every objection is met with resistance and squashed, the individual issuing the complaint immediately labeled a "bigot," "sexist," or any other number of insults, and possibly ostracized or punished by the league who has decided males get to play in any division they wish. This discourages anyone who might take issue from speaking out.
The fact that this has been allowed to occur for so long is a shameful failure on the part of sporting organizations to protect female athletes.
Banning males from female sports has nothing to do with “trans” or any other identity a person might have. This is a deliberate obfuscation of the issue at heart.
“Trans”-identified females most often choose to compete on women’s teams, despite calling themselves “men.” They are welcomed on these teams, get along with their teammates, and enjoy success without criticism. Of course, they still must comply with the same rules as every other athlete: no use of anabolic steroids such as testosterone or other known performance enhancing drugs. Otherwise, they are free to compete with their female peers without issue.
The issue is with male participation in female sports, regardless of how that male sees himself, regardless of what he calls himself, regardless of how he chooses to dress or “present” himself, regardless of whether or not he gets along well with other males, regardless of whether or not he likes the fact that he’s male, regardless of his age, regardless of how well he will do in competition against other males.
Males and females are different. We have different bodies. Sports are played with bodies, not identities. Male participation in female sports is grossly unfair and unequal.
“Gender-identity” is a non-existent concept that has yet to be defined in a consistent, logical, and objective way by any medical or government organization. “Gender-identity” is a concept that is thrust on women and girls against our will, one that we do not ascribe to or believe in. We do not have “gender-identities” only female bodies, therefore, there is no way for us to share this imaginary “gender-identity” with a male athlete.
Female athletics do not exist as a mental health treatment program for males. They do not exist to make men and boys feel better about themselves. They do not exist as a way for men and boys to feel “included” socially or as a way for them to “hang out with their friends”. Female athletics exist to provide athletic opportunities to female athletes. Sports do provide mental health benefits to people of all ages, although that is not their primary purpose. Women and girls who are excluded due to the participation of male athletes certainly do not get to reap those benefits.
Male athletes are more than capable of competing on teams for boys and men or in open leagues. Many “trans”-identified males have had positive experiences on these teams. William “Lia” Thomas, for example, in his criticism of the FINA ban on male athletes in female competition described how important sports were for him growing up and how thankful he was to have participated in them. What he failed to mention in his interview was that from childhood to present, with the exception of the few months he spent on the women’s swim team at UPenn, Thomas’s participation in those sports was on boy’s teams with other male athletes.
Many athletic policies declare that athletes have a right to participate with others of their shared "gender identity", yet they themselves fail to uphold their own standards. Female athletes who "identify" as "men" are still allowed to compete in women's athletics. This means, by the definitions set forth by these organizations, "men" are being allowed in women's competitions and women are still being forced to compete against those who do not share their "gender identity." Either way, female athletes are being forced to compete against both males and "men."
The lack of consistency in these policies demonstrates that the primary objective of these rules isn't to allow athletes to compete with those who share a subjective, unprovable, arbitrary "identity" but rather as a cover to shoehorn males into female sports.
According to The Telegraph, there are over 50 males playing women's soccer in England (the majority of these athletes have not been catalogued by this site as their names have not been made public). This would be more than enough to form several teams. "Trans"-identified males have their own volleyball leagues in the Philipines and Thailand's "Iron Ladies" was a team comprised of "trans"-identified males that competed against other men's volleyball teams.
This site has documented over 60 males competing in women's cycling events. Most of these athletes already travel far for competition. This is more than enough to create a separate competition for them if they refuse to compete with their male peers. Women often face the issue of not being able to find enough interest for women’s leagues. In those cases, we join men’s leagues or even participate alone.
In fact, many male athletes who claim to be women who seem to have no problem participating by themselves, (in disc golf, indoor rowing, and cycling, for example) as long as it’s in the women’s competition. Yet, when males are asked to create their own leagues, they cry “exclusion” and “isolation!” Many sports such as marathons run competitions of both sexes concurrently and only separate performances when giving awards. Evaluating male performances separate from those of female does not exclude anyone.
There are about 1.6 million “trans-identified” people in the United States above the age of 13. There were an estimated 3.3 million wheelchair users in 2016, over half of them over the age of 65. Despite the small numbers, wheelchair users have created their own leagues for many sports and are able to enjoy participation with each other.
The creation of male leagues for male athletes who don’t want to compete with their male peers is not the responsibility of female or male athletes who compete by the rules. It is not the responsibility of major athletic organizations. It is, rather, the responsibility of those who do not wish to follow the same rules as the rest of society.
An athlete’s body and physical health are their most valuable assets. Injuries, especially those of a higher degree, are devastating for an athlete’s career and mental health, and may bring an end to their participation in athletics altogether. This is why athletic bodies do everything in their power to mitigate the risk of injury: requiring the use of protective equipment, developing better gear, implementing rules to protect athletes, funding research to reduce traumatic injuries in various sports. Co-ed leagues often implement additional rules for male athletes to ensure player safety, for example, requiring male players to stay in the back row when playing volleyball on a women’s net which is 7 inches lower than the men’s.
Sports are separated by sex, age, and experience, not just because of athletic differences between these groups, but also for safety reasons. As sports are physical activities and involve many complex motions, often done at high speed and intensity with a risk of collision, athletes of all ages and of any sex can and do get injured during practice and competition. But introducing male athletes into the female division greatly increases the risk of injury in both frequency and severity.
For example, male average power in a punching motion has been shown to be 162% greater than female. This was explicitly demonstrated when Boyd Burton aka “Fallon Fox” broke the skull of his female opponent, fracturing her orbital bone in an injury that also required 7 staples, in just his 6th (and final) fight in women’s MMA. It happened in the first round. Burton was 38 years old at the time while the female athlete he injured was 26.
Men’s field hockey has the fastest swing speed of any sport, with swings reported at speeds of 103mph. Injuries in men’s field hockey tournaments also occur more frequently than in women’s. Allowing men and boys into women’s field hockey increases the frequency and severity of injury, as demonstrated in 2023 when a female player’s front teeth were knocked out in a horrific injury sustained from a male player’s shot.
Along with fair competition, female athletes deserve safe competition without the introduction of non-necessary risks that can be eliminated entirely by keeping sports single sex.
For more examples of injuries sustained due to male participation in female competition, please see the “Injury Report” section.
Women are adult human females, “female” being of the sex that produces the larger of the two gametes, ova (also known as the egg), and in mammals performs the role of gestation and childbirth in reproduction. The female reproductive system is characterized by a uterus and ovaries, which produce the high levels of estrogen after puberty that cause women to develop the secondary sex characteristics they are commonly known by.
In humans, the XX chromosome combination leads to female development, XY to male. Occasionally, chromosomal disorders may occur in which this is not the case, and an abnormal chromosomal combination leads to male or female development instead. A person’s sex is not reliant upon chromosomal configuration, but rather their reproductive potential. Whether or not that potential is fulfilled due to personal choice, illness, age, or disorders is irrelevant.
There are a number of disorders that may occur in the reproductive system, just as they can anywhere else in the body. These are known as “disorders of sexual development” or DSDs. Individuals with DSDs are not “intersex” or “hermaphrodites” as they were once known. Rather, they are members of either the male or female sex who have had an error in the development of their reproductive system that may give them an atypical appearance or anatomy for their sex.
Even if these athletes were truly “intersex” somewhere between male and female, that would mean they should certainly be participating in the men’s or the open division, as they still have the male characteristics that give them advantages over female athletes. To see evidence of this in action, one need look no further than the 2016 Olympics where the bronze, silver, and gold medalists in the women's 800 meter race were all males with DSDs.
Sex is also not reliant on physical appearance or secondary sex characteristics, but again, on the reproductive pathway the body is geared for. There are DSDs that can only occur in males, and others in females. When a person’s reproductive system is incomplete, we can examine a number of factors to determine sex including the reproductive tissues that are present and the individual’s genetics.
The athletes in the women’s division that have restrictions placed upon them incur these restrictions, not because they are women with “high testosterone,” but because they are male athletes competing in the female division. Caster Semenya is one of the more well-known examples. Semenya has repeatedly been said to have “hyperandrogenism,” a condition characterized by higher than usual levels of testosterone. Later reports have clarified that what Semenya has is actually 5α-Reductase 2 deficiency, a condition that occurs in males where they do not produce enough DHT, a hormone that is needed for the development of a healthy penis.
Males with this condition have XY chromosomes and internal testes that produce normal levels of testosterone for human males. They lack all female reproductive organs and without the disorder, would have the ability to impregnate rather than become pregnant. There may be a slight difference in secondary sex characteristics, and outer genitalia may appear female or ambiguous (leading them to mistakenly be classified as female), but these individuals are unquestionably male and have the same physicality and athleticism of other male athletes.
Female athletics are for female athletes. For this reason, males with DSDs do not have a place in them. Female athletics are not for males with disorders. They are not for males with an undeveloped or underdeveloped penis or for males who are missing or choose to remove their penis altogether.
Contrary to what philosopher Aristotle, and evidently many in our society believe (considering the fact that many seem to believe inverting a man’s penis makes him a woman), women are not incomplete, imperfect, or mutilated men.
All male athletes, no matter how they identify, are allowed to join men’s athletic teams and compete in open leagues and open competitions. They refuse to do so under the pretense that they will not be competitive against men.
Many sports, such as track and field and swimming, are, for the most part, co-ed. This means that the men’s and women’s teams warm-up together, practice together, have competitions at the same time. Male and female teammates do the same workouts, cheer each other on, joke with each other, complain about sets with each other. They are largely one team until the moment of the race approaches. The only time when they are separate is when they line up at the blocks. Males against males, females against females. A male athlete would have virtually the same experience, whether he pretended to be a woman or not, except during his race (many of which last less than a minute). The only real difference is where he would end up on the podium.
This means that many male athletes are, in fact, joining women’s sports so that they are able to win, and specifically so that they are able to win against women.
All female athletes deserve safe and fair competition and opportunities for athletic achievement and success. This includes athletes at the amateur, club, school, masters, semi-professional, and professional level. Elite athletes comprise less than 1% of the total number women participating in sports. Allowing males to participate in women’s sports at any level puts a greater number of female athletes at an unnecessary elevated risk of injury. It deprives women and girls of all ages and at all levels of experience opportunities to participate.
Amateur and school athletics offer women and girls valuable opportunities to improve and become recognized by well-known clubs and organizations. This is how athletes progress to the elite level, how they are offered scholarships, how they are given places on national teams. When males are allowed to participate in these areas of sport, they are offered advancement opportunities to upper leagues, offered places on professional and semi-professional teams, and prize money and travel opportunities in the place of female athletes.
Many amateur female athletes end up self-excluding from competitions or quitting sports entirely because they realize they cannot compete with the males they are forced to match up against. This discourages female participation in athletics, an area where male athletes are already given preferential treatment and female athletes already face discrimination, inequality, and abuse.
Millions of women and girls around the globe participate in women’s sports. They each have their own goals and dreams of athletic success. They strive for personal bests and performance records. They celebrate victories with triumph, losses with disappointment, and are cheered on by their families and friends who root for their success. Women and girls participate in athletics for personal achievement, as hobbies, and for their livelihoods. Women’s sports matter very much to each and every one of these athletes, to their family members and friends, and to their fans. Women’s sports matter to the young girls (female children) who look up to these athletes and build their own athletic dreams.
We care very much about women’s sports and the female athletes who participate in them.