Culture Clash or Common Sense?

The Trump administration just scored a win in the cultural clash over trans persons in women's sports. The University of Pennsylvania, responding to a Title IX investigation, has decided to strip born-a-man swimmer Lia Thomas of victories/titles, and "issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a transgender competitor."

Progressives are likely dismayed. I suspect, however, that dismay will be muted, because the trans-in-womens-sports issue has become an albatross around their political necks.

Why? Because it defies common sense.

Why are men and women segregated in most sporting competitions?

The same reason that boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts and other physical combat sports, weightlifting, and rowing are sorted by weight class.

Why are these sports sorted and segregated thus?

Because biology matters.

Just as larger athletes have inherent advantages over smaller ones in those sports, men have inherent advantages over women in most.

Those advantages, which include skeletal structure, cardiovascular capacity, musculature, and much more, cannot simply be negated by a couple years of chemical treatment. As has been quipped, puberty is a performance enhancing drug.

Want some real-world evidence? How about the Swiss women’s national soccer team playing against a team of 15 year old boys, and losing by six goals? Or the US women’s national team doing the same (playing against a U-15 boys team) and losing 5-2? I won’t bother linking the MMA fights where biological men (see: Fallon Fox) destroyed women and breaking their facial bones, or the myriad races where trans athletes obliterate women’s world records.

Opposing biological males competing against biological females in sports is cast by the cultural Left as transphobic, but I reject the assertion outright as completely detached from reality, and so should you.

In the matter of transgenderism, I limit my caveats to four things: sports, women's spaces, minors, and public money. Sports, as I just explained. Women's spaces (locker rooms, shelters, prisons, etc) for similar reasons - because societies across the globe and across history recognize that such segregations protect women. Minors because they are not fully formed humans and thus definitionally unable to give informed consent. Public money because I believe in limited government and so I don't believe that the government has any business funding medical treatments.

Beyond that, live your life as you choose. I will extend you the same baseline courtesy and respect I extend every other person. That's it. That's the libertarian way. I don’t know the inside of your head, and I don’t have the right to impede your pursuit of happiness. And vice versa. Live your life, let me live mine, and don't demand the government coerce my behavior or take my money/stuff to your benefit. Treat me as an equal human and I will treat you as one.

Unfortunately, attitudes such as mine are lost in the clash. The radicals on one side demands violations of common sense, the other side pushes back, and both sides resort to hyperbole and excess in order to stand their ground. The performative among the transgender population take advantage of the cultural strife to garner attention, gain champions, and present themselves as martyrs. The cynical and sinister take advantage of opportunities, and in doing so add fuel to the fire.

What we should do is hold fast in our live-and-let-live. Overreacting to others' excess may feel like balancing the scales, but that's how we ended up with things like affirmative action and talk of reparations, and it's no way to achieve a lasting harmony. Join me in limiting your views on transgenderism to the ones I mentioned, and you'll be in a good place.