you linked a really good paper, i’m going to quote some other passages from it:
As those among us endocrinologists who focus on weight management and diabetes know well, for most of the population our biggest athletics-related concern is how to motivate people to participate. Transgender people are likely at greater risk of failing to participate in exercise than average, so that opportunities to motivate transgender people to engage in athletic activity would be anticipated to be a major health priority [3].
…
Typically, total testosterone cut points of 5 nmol/L and 10 nmol/L have been used with athletes mandated to have achieved those levels for some time period prior and to maintain those levels at all times going forward. Such thresholds are considered to be fair to transgender women because they are well above the 1.7 nmol/L target testosterone threshold in medical treatment guidelines.
…
The field of transgender medicine is filled with decisions based on fear of negative consequences rather than good scientific evidence. We in the endocrine healthcare community have much work to do to create an evidence base to help guide decision makers so that choices for transgender women in sport are data driven. In the interim, it is our responsibility to counsel those around us about the healthcare priority to encourage participation in sport and the importance of avoiding fear-driven policies. (emphasis mine)
we do have data that the existing transfemme population is not dominating cis women in any sport, and often, transfemmes on HRT have lower circulating testosterone levels than cis women (see citation from the paper above), especially wrt cis women in high end sports that tend to have higher levels of testosterone than average 💀
it may not be cut and dry, but there’s not that much compelling evidence that transfemmes should be excluded, which i would prefer to see if we’re excluding an entire demographic from sports. otherwise, it’s just discrimination
by the way, this paper also made me think of a number of significant reasons to include transfemmes in sports; among them being their physical and mental health, visibility, and mainstream acceptance. i believe these are all factors that should be weighed in a science-based decision about transfemmes inclusion in sports
(also, i think it’s good to note that nothing in this discussion warrants genital inspections lol)
thought this was a (very late) april fools joke 💀 is this real? is there some recent / relevant reason for it?