ESPN: Complaint targets transgender HS track athletes

[Volimar]

Reminder for all threads concerning issues like this

There is a study by Joanna Harper on transgender runners' performance versus cisgender runners' performance that was published in the Journal of Sporting Cultures and Identities in 2015. This was the first-ever-study of transgender athletes, according to the Washington Post. The study showed that as testosterone levels approach female norms, trans women experience a decrease in muscle mass, bone density and other physical characteristics.

The aforementioned study has become the basis of the IOC's guidelines on transgender athletes:

In 2015, IOC invited Harper to attend its Consensus Meeting on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism held in Lausanne, Switzerland. After 3 days, the panel of scientists and physicians converged on revised rules for transgender competitors, including at least 1 year of hormone replacement therapy for female competitors, rather than the 2 years previously required. That change was a nod to Harper's personal transition experience and to research published in 2004 in the European Journal of Endocrinology showing that the testosterone levels—and therefore performance—of 19 transgender women stabilized after 12 months of hormone therapy. The revised IOC policy also lifted the requirement for sex reassignment surgery. That decision was a long time coming, Harper says. "What your genitals are doesn't make a difference."

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You can read the full study for yourself here. (Warning: this does open a PDF document!)

You can also read about Joanna Harper and the research involved in Science Magazine.

There are also additional studies that corroborate the first. As mentioned in this article in Cosmos Magazine:

...a Dutch study in the European Journal of Endocrinology, which found that within a year after gender-reassignment surgery, trans women had testosterone and haemoglobin levels no higher than their female-born compatriots. That's important because high testosterone is associated with masculine levels of muscle mass and strength, while high haemoglobin is associated with greater aerobic capacity and therefore speed.

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You can read the full study for yourself here. (Warning: this does open a PDF document!)

Another study, called Sport and Transgender People: A Systematic Review of the Literature Relating to Sport Participation and Competitive Sport Policies, was published in 2017:

Currently, there is no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals (or male individuals) have an athletic advantage at any stage of their transition (e.g. cross-sex hormones, gender-confirming surgery) and, therefore, competitive sport policies that place restrictions on transgender people need to be considered and potentially revised.

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You can read the full study for yourself here.

To be clear, there aren't many studies on this currently, but this is the best data available on the subject. By contrast, there is no scientific (peer-reviewed) case to support excluding transgender athletes from competitive sports. For these reasons we are not interested in entertaining the latter here. Concern posts about transgender athletes having a genetic advantage, or claiming the same, will be treated as transphobia and moderated accordingly. This policy has proven to be the best way to curb misinformation and improve the quality of discussion. It applies to all relevant topics and threads.

If you have questions about this modpost or policy, please contact one of our mod captains (B-Dubs, Mist, Hecht, Finale Fireworker). Thank you.