Is “Save Women’s Sports” anything more than a phrase? A cliche, perhaps, to be put on posters and chanted at events? What does it even mean to you? Some see it as an attack on individual freedom. Some believe it to be a defense of their competitive pleasure. In reality, its meaning is even deeper: saving women’s sports is key to protecting women for all future generations.
Sports is a common subject to which many people can relate, whether they have played a sport or just love watching. Sports are a prominent feature of American culture and consume vast amounts of our entertainment time and resources. Athletes train for years in their sport. They put in many hours, early mornings, late nights, lots of travel, and sacrifice gatherings and events. It takes incredible time management and discipline. Athletes train for years to earn scholarships, qualify for a collegiate team, and win championships. Sports teach a strong work ethic, team building, and a passion and love for what they do.
In the last few years, we have seen a horrific tragedy in women’s sports due to men identifying as women competing in the female category. Scholarships, titles, and spots on collegiate teams that female athletes have worked for their whole lives are being taken from them in a second. Why? Because it is now a societal norm that men can compete in women’s sports and that everything that a female athlete has endeavored to achieve can be stripped as well as suffer injury from the male opponent.
So, what is the issue? The matter in question is that men and women are biologically different and that men are competing in women’s sports. As a result, they are winning championships and athletes are losing scholarships. In addition, men are injuring female athletes. This is a disgraceful reality for females.
Lia Thomas, formerly known as William Thomas, competed on the men’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania for three years. Thomas ranked number 462 nationally. Thomas’s senior year, William transitioned to Lia Thomas, competing on the women’s swim team, ranking number 1 and crushing female athletes times by 38 seconds. Thomas won the women’s 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA Division 1 National Championship. Because of this, Virginia Tech’s Reka Gyorgy was denied a spot in the 500 finals, and University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant was ousted as champion. Not only did Thomas strip away a championship title and scholarships from these female athletes, but Thomas changed in the same locker room as the other female swimmers.
To add injury to insult, female athletes are losing their athletic careers and even quality of life to male intrusions in their sports. Peyton McNabb, a high school volleyball player in Raleigh, North Carolina was injured by a male who had infiltrated the opposing team in the name of “trans rights”. McNabb suffered severe head and neck injuries and long-term concussion symptoms after the “male opponent hit the volleyball at approximately 70mph”, according to Caroline Downey in an article with Yahoo News. McNabb will live with those physical consequences for the rest of her life.
It is a scientific fact that men and women are created differently. And everything about how our sports are structured recognizes the uniqueness of men and women. There are biological differences between males and females. Studies show that males jump 26.4% higher than females on average. For example, I am a collegiate synchronized skater, and in my sport of figure skating, lower body power output and muscular strength play a significant role in our ability to skate faster and jump higher. Data published by the National Health Institute shows that women athletes are known to be less strong and powerful than equally trained men, muscle strength of women indeed, is typically reported in the range of 40 to 75% of that of men. Why are we continuing to see men competing in women’s sports? When is enough going to be enough?
Men are competing in women’s sports. Men are changing in women’s locker rooms. Female athletes are losing the opportunity to win championships, earn scholarships, and play on collegiate teams. Female athletes are running the risk of getting injured by a male and suffering the results from that their whole life. This is unjust and an attack on science, physical reality, and women’s rights.
