Women’s Sports Can’t Ignore Biology And The Media Finally Can’t Either

Sep 1

3 min read

Updated: Sep 5

By Suzanne Rampe

I’ve written about this before, but the last month changed the conversation. When Enes Kanter Freedom got ejected from Wintrust Arena for while wearing a “Woman” shirt, the clip blew up everywhere. Sophie Cunningham’s ESPN comments about protecting “young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men” set off another firestorm. Even Clay Travis jumped in, floating an “inclusive” WNBA expansion team built around French trans player Julie Tétart. The media cycle moved faster than the Fever’s 18 three-pointers that same night. Whether you like it or not, the size and strength debate is now center court.

Pull Quote:

“I told her that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected… Tash is always going to stand on that, and we stand for Tash.” — Sky coach Tyler Marsh

Women’s Sports Can’t Ignore Biology And The Media Finally Can’t Either

Sports are physical. Male puberty builds bigger lungs, denser bones, more muscle, wider shoulders. A year of testosterone suppression doesn’t undo that. We saw it at Penn vs. Yale. Lia Thomas, after three seasons on the men’s team, won the women’s 200 and 500 free. Same meet, Iszac Henig, a trans man who delayed testosterone to finish on the women’s team, won the 50 and 100 free and beat Thomas by nearly two seconds in the 100.

Pull Quote:

“I value my contributions to the team and recognize that my boyhood doesn’t hinge on whether there’s more or less testosterone running through my veins.” — Iszac Henig

The clock only measures bodies.

Fairness and safety aren’t separate issues

Ask players who’ve actually been on the floor. Martina Bestagno played against Brittney Griner in EuroLeague. Griner’s 6’9”, 219 pounds. Bestagno still said Julie Tétart’s “combination of size and strength” was unlike anything she’d faced in women’s basketball.

Pull Quote:

“It’s not just the size, it’s the combination of size and strength that it’s something that I never went against it before. I was blown away by the difference talking about strength. The difference is huge.” — Martina Bestagno

In contact sports, that difference means harder hits and higher injury risk. Women shouldn’t have to choose between competing and getting hurt.

The legal line moved too

On June 30 the Supreme Court let states keep bans on transgender girls in girls’ school sports. That decision came down while teens like Becky Pepper-Jackson, Parker Tirrell, and AB Hernandez were in the headlines. They love their sports. No one questions that. The question is whether “girls’ track” means female, or just self-ID. The law is starting to answer: it means female.

We already separate by physical reality everywhere else

We don’t match 200-pound wrestlers with 120-pound wrestlers. We don’t put 17-year-olds in 10U soccer. Sex is the biggest physical category in athletics. If we drop it, women’s sports stop being a place where women can be first. They become a place where women can be “first, for a girl.” Title IX wasn’t fought for participation trophies. It was fought so women could win.

Respect people, protect the category

Juniper Eastwood, Natalie Fahey, Cody Smith, Jeffrey Rubel, their stories are real. But keeping women’s sports for women isn’t hate. It’s the only way the category survives. Size and strength decide games. When they’re mismatched, it isn’t just unfair. It’s dangerous. The media is finally covering it. The question is whether the leagues will act on it.

The Supreme Court has said states can protect women’s sports.

I believe it should have said they must.

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