Women’s Sports?

Amid protests, Penn University swimmer Lia Thomas, who is a transgender woman, became the first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship in a sport, and there were no parades or big celebrations.

Thomas took the NCAA title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle while towering over the biologically female runner-up, Emma Weyant, a silver medalist at the recent Tokyo Olympics. Her victory caused a backlash, and Thomas received first place while being booed by the crowd. Before joining the women’s division, Thomas ranked #462 as a male swimmer, now she’s #1 as a woman. The numbers alone raise the question of Thomas having unfair advantages against her female teammates.

Former Olympian gold medalist, Caitlyn Jenner, the world’s most famous trans woman is concerned about the danger the situation creates to her own community and to women’s sports: “I think to be honest they’ve got to change the rules. We need a fair playing field. And right now, if we allow this, it’s not a fair playing field. I am firmly behind protecting women’s sports. We cannot have biological boys competing against women. It’s bad for the trans community.”

While I don’t think every former male athlete who became a transgender female athlete did it with the intention of taking advantage of female divisions in sports, I suspect some may have seen this as a way to hack the system and rise to the top of the podium. The current rules regulating trans inclusion in competitive sports can easily be exploited.

It’s only a matter of time before Jiu-Jitsu and MMA promotions establish their own rules regarding this matter. Are we just going to sit back and wait to see what regulations they come up with? Look up what happened in 2014 when transgender fighter Fallon Fox broke her opponent’s skull in a MMA fight, if you’re not familiar.

The question is, are women’s sports at risk? Are the equal rights for opportunity and recognition we still sacrifice and fight so hard for being infringed?

As women, we must speak out. Silence translates to complacency. Now is a time in history that demands pushing past discomfort and fear. Now is the time for courage, and when it comes to sports, women in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA prove every time we step on the mats and inside the cage we are made of nothing if not courage. Regardless of where you stand in the issue, women are the ones who should be calling the shots in our own backyards and deciding how to move forward.

As a Jiujiteira who understands firsthand the struggles of participating in a male-dominated sport, how do you feel about the inclusion of transgender women in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA? Would you be comfortable going against a biological born male in the octagon? We want to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can support transgender athletes and create opportunities that are both safe and fair for all women to receive self-defense training and compete in combat sports. Email us at:
[email protected]

– Evelyn Sutton