Title IX

Before the 1970s, women were not encouraged to participate in sports.  Such activities were considered to be not "ladylike."  Women were also thought to be too fragile for such participation.  Based on modern data, females always wanted to participate, but were not given the opportunity or the encouragement.

When I graduated from Oswego High School (OHS) in 1963, boys participated in 8 different sports.  Girls were relegated to being cheerleaders for the boy's teams.

The differences between the sexes in body composition are well known: males typically have proportionately more muscle mass, more bone mass, and a lower percentage of body fat than women.  Thus, in competitive sports, men have a distinct advantage.  In order to encourage females to participate in sports, it is better for them to compete against other women rather than men.

As an example of such a competitive disadvantage, in 2017 the US national women's soccer team held a scrimmage against an under 15 boys team and lost 5-2.  The US women's team was ranked number one in the world in comparison to other women's teams.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforces Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. 

Title IX states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

As a result of Title IX, today OHS has 15 boys sports and 15 girls sports.  

In today's society, there are two more categories of athletes: the transgenders.  There are men who want to be women and women who want to be men.

Quandaries have arisen as to whether such men (who want to be women) should compete against women in sports.  Lia Thomas, a student-athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to compete on its women's swim team.  Lia was born male and has the physical advantages of a male over a female.  But Lia is transgender.  What to do?  

Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during Lia's freshman year, recorded the sixth-fastest national men's time in the 500-yard freestyle.  

In the 2021–2022 season, when competing on the women's team, Lia was recorded as the fastest national women's time in the 500 freestyle.  Lia as a male at birth was thus competing against women at birth who represented, as explained above, inferior competition.

To me, a man competing against women is similar to an athlete taking a performance enhancing drug, which of course is not allowed.  It would not be fair to the athletes not taking the performance enhancing drug.

How many transgender athletes are there?  Thirty-two.  

To me, the solution to this quandary is the greatest good for the greatest number.  It is not fair for people like Lia to compete against women at birth who would be at a competitive disadvantage against such a male athlete.  

The result was Lia, a man at birth, won a national women's swimming championship.   Really?  

Transgenders should compete only against other transgenders.  In a similar way, handicapped athletes compete only against other handicapped athletes.  

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