Why is it important to protect women’s sports? What is all of the commotion about? It is more than commotion; it is a crucial step in protecting women from injury and injustice for all generations to come.
Imagine you have trained your whole life for something that you love and in hopes of accomplishing a goal. You have sacrificed time, money, and special events over your childhood and teenage years. You finally get to the moment you have been working for, for so long, and as you begin to compete/play your sport, you realize a male who identifies as a woman is competing against you. That male who has a significant biological advantage over you. And you then realize that all of the time and effort that you have put in now means nothing because of the unfair and unjust fantasy of your opponent. The scenario that I just described has happened and continues to occur. This is traumatizing for female athletes and affects them physically and mentally.
Recently, female athletes have spoken out about the unfair playing field. These athletes have shared the effects that competing against a male has had on them. From being injured, changing in a locker room with a male, and the realization of how unfair this is, all in the name of gender identity, feelings, and a photo op.
How does a feeling dispute a simple, scientific, and biological fact? The fact that men and women are different. As well as the science to prove that males have a physical advantage over women and the unique biological differences between them.
So, why is this important? Several athletes have had to go through this unfair competition. Riley Gaines, former swimmer from University of Kentucky who competed against Lia Thomas shares her story of competing against a male. Since then, Gaines has traveled the US sharing her story and testifying to protect women’s sports. Gaines has faced attacks, assaults, and backlash from speaking out. Gaines shares her story from her experience speaking at San Francisco State University, where she was barricaded in a room for 3 hours due to a mob that was outside of the room where she was “ambushed and physically hit twice by a man”. Gaines’s experience is quite evident that our freedom of speech and safety is under attack.
This past fall, a male swimmer joined the female swim team at Roanoke College. In a press conference held on October 5th, some of the Female swimmers spoke out about how this affected them and the turmoil they have endured. “We were emotionally blackmailed and asked to carry the responsibility of other people’s mental health and wellbeing at the expense of our own,” said Cady Mullens, “This has been too great a burden to bear for many of our teammates who have lost hours of sleep, many tears, and the will to train to race a swimmer who has an advantage in the water that our bodies may never possess.” Bailey Gallagher, a senior on the team shared “I could not eat, could not sleep, and spent a lot of time dealing with anxiety concerned with how this was going to get resolved.” Some of the families of these athletes shared their response as well, Mother Cady Mullens stated, “Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine that swimming and sports would teach those girls to be quiet, that they would have to compete with men, and to stifle all their excitement and all their hopes and dreams for the benefit of a man.”
It is an awful tragedy that female athletes who have competed against males have had to endure and the backlash that has been received when speaking out. However, this should be an eye opener to where our country is headed. Because this is not just an athlete issue, this is a woman issue. Males are not just in women’s sports. They are in women’s locker rooms. They are in women’s restrooms, and the idea of protecting women’s spaces going forward, is a concept that is fleeting. This is an issue that is not just on a large scale and can affect you, your family, your school, and your community. This is an issue that needs to be protected at every level beginning in elementary schools.
This is not a right or left issue. This is a humanity issue. This is an issue that many care about at all levels. An Illinois community college student shared “I have two younger sisters in high school. They both enjoy playing sports and hope to play in college! From young ages, they have put in so much extra time and effort beyond practice not only because they love what they are doing but because they are always wanting to improve. I know this is the case for many other female athletes as well. It is a real slap in the face for women, who have spent years of their lives working to achieve their goals, to have opportunities stolen from them and handed to a man. I pray that my sisters never have to face this, and I pray for the women who do.” Megan S, former athlete and student at Texas State shared “Throughout middle school and high school I had always had a natural talent for swimming. My brother had joined first and then I joined later, and we both swam competitively. If you were to ask my parents, I was always the more talented swimmer, but no matter what, my brother was always faster than me. Even in the relays in heats, I would always be either number one or number two in my bracket, and my brother would fall somewhere in the middle. Regardless, whenever we swam head-to-head, he would beat me. It is not because he was better or because he was more talented by comparison, it was because he was male, and I was female, nothing will ever change the fact. Women deserve to have a fair chance in their own spaces because men and women are not the same. Even if you are the most talented and strongest swimmer like I was, my brother always won.” How does this issue affect you?
Whether you are an athlete, a family member or friend, of an athlete, a woman, a parent with a daughter—this can affect you or someone who you love. If we do not take a stand today and protect a fair playing field for women, then what is next to lose? If we cannot respectfully voice why this is an issue without facing attacks and assault and being barricaded in a room at a university, then what is freedom of speech? If we do not take a stand to protect biblical principles and pursue truth, then there is going to be no ground left to stand on. I urge you to educate yourself on why this is unfair and unjust and to take a stand to advocate for women’s sports. I am standing for other female athletes, women across this great country, and my future daughters so that all women can have a fair and safe playing field – why do you stand?
