Two thoughts occurred to me after Bruce Jenner’s interview with Diane Sawyer. The first was the thought I always have when I see Bruce Jenner on a commercial or in my Facebook/Twitter feed and that is profound sadness that this person who was once the greatest athlete on planet Earth is now primarily known as part of the Kardashian C-list sideshow.
WATCH: Kris Jenner finally opens up about Bruce's transition: http://t.co/HEwarjvHm9 pic.twitter.com/2ysG6YzAlN
— Harper's Bazaar (@harpersbazaarus) May 14, 2015
The second thought wasn’t sad, but a question. Actually two questions, but they go together. What if, in 1980, Bruce Jenner had made the choice to transition from male to female and then re-entered the Olympics to compete in the Women’s Pentathlon just four years after wining the Olympic Decathalon? Would that have been fair?
It turns out I wasn’t the first one to ask this question. Maybe not about Bruce Jenner, but about trans women athletes in general and a potential “unfair advantage” over cisgender women in sports.
Looking at all this I reached out to my friend Vandy Beth Glenn. Glenn rose to national prominence around four years ago when she was the subject of a landmark federal court case (Glenn v. Brumby) that granted equal protection under the law to transgender people. Glenn is currently a much sought-after public speaker, writer, editor and civil rights activist. We got to know each other the same way all civil rights pioneers and sportswriters do, through a shared interest in Bigfoot, sham psychics and super heroes.
“I can tell you I’m a dramatically slower runner since I began my transition, and I attribute that to the absence of testosterone,” Glenn told me. “…Again, I’m not an endocrinologist, physiologist, biochemist, or even a professional athlete.”
The Olympics requires gender reassignment surgery, legal recognition of the assigned gender and at least two years of hormone therapy to compete. At the same time, the IOC can still selectively gender-test athletes as can the International Association of Athletics Federations, who gender-tested South African runner Caster Semenya in 2009, who passed but had to sit out for a year before being reinstated.
The Association of Boxing Commissions has basically the same requirements as the Olympics; surgery and two years of hormone replacement therapy.
The NCAA doesn’t require gender reassignment surgery but does require one year of hormone therapy.
CrossFit came to a completely different conclusion, refusing to let transgender athlete Chloe Johnson compete in the women’s division, but inviting her to compete against men. Johnson is suing CrossFit for discrimination.
When Glenn and I spoke about it, I was unclear about the effects of hormone replacement therapy. From the outside, it didn’t seem like it would be enough to change an athlete’s performance after transition.
“Testosterone conveys an obvious advantage in any sport that requires strength,” Glenn said. “But some cisgender women have naturally higher levels of testosterone. And intersex people may have levels of sex hormones that are outside the norm for either sex. …Transgender women, it’s worth noting, typically have lower levels of testosterone than cisgender women. Because HRT (hormone replacement therapy) generally suppresses the production of all testosterone in our bodies, while cisgender women still produce testosterone in their adrenal glands.”
I wasn’t alone in thinking there might be an “unfair advantage.” In refusing to fight transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, UFC champion Rhonda Rousey said, “If you go through puberty as a man, it’s not something you can reverse. …There’s no undo button on that.”
UFC’s own president Dana White agreed with Rousey, saying, “I don’t think someone who used to be a man and became a woman should be able to fight a woman.”
It’s important to note that Fox is fully licensed and meets all the ABC’s requirements to be so with her surgery taking place in 2006. UFC commentator and comedian Joe Rogan doesn’t think that’s enough, saying, “I say if you had a d—k at one point, you have all the bone structure that comes with having a d—k.”
Fox did her part for equality, getting TKO’ed by Ashlee Evans-Smith in the third round of their 2013 fight with the referee dragging Evans-Smith off Fox before she killed her. It’s the kind of moment that changes the “unfair advantage” argument for good.
“Many doctors and scientists have participated in the decisions that have led to her (Fox) being allowed to compete as a female,” Glenn said. “I can only trust them. I mean, it’s either listen to them or listen to Joe Rogan. Who opposes Fallon Fox competing in MMA, but who also thinks the moon landings were faked.”
Janet Furman Bowman talked about her transition with Runner’s World magazine back in 2005. Janet was born Jim Furman and loved to run. As 51-year-old Jim, she could run the 10-K in under 40 minutes, good for a man in the 50-59 age bracket, but an incredible time for a woman of the same age. Janet wondered if she could still compete once her transition was done and if it would be fair. She even called USA Track & Field for their advice. They had the same rules as the Olympics – surgery and two years of hormone therapy. Janet was in the clear.
Janet didn’t need to worry about dominating her sport. By the time her transition was complete, she couldn’t put up anything close to Jim’s times. Her 10-K post transition, which she could run in 39 minutes on any day as Jim, took 48 minutes and seven seconds as Janet and that was a personal record. In running, in track and field, in timed events, over eight minutes might as well be a lifetime.
I enjoy women’s sports, especially at the Olympic level, and the idea of a 30-year-old Bruce Jenner competing against cisgender women troubled me because I didn’t see how they could compete. Now I wonder if, post op and after two years of hormone therapy, he could have even made the games at all. It’s an issue that’s going to keep coming up, but it’s settled science. To quote the NCAA:
“It is also important to know that any strength and endurance advantages a transgender woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about one year of estrogen or testosterone-suppression therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender woman competing on a women’s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence.”
There is no fairness issue. Fox flat on her back, staring at the ceiling lights while Evans-Smith celebrates in the octagon proves it. Janet Furman Bowman proves it. And ultimately, reality proves it. Because this is the world we live in and trans women are already free to compete in any sport they choose and do. The fact that there’s not one single dominating transgender performance anyone can point to is ultimately the best evidence we could ever need, moon landing hoax or not.
