Protecting Women-All Women
Instead of Focusing on Made-Up Problems
Made up problems. That is what is going on here. This administration works overtime keeping us upset about things that are either blatantly untrue or not as much of a problem as they would like us to believe, so we lose focus on their systematic dismantling of our government.
Let’s stop the assault on the LBGTQIA community already. The strategy to erase trans people from existence is nauseating. Calling it protection of children, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new snitch line to report physicians who provide gender affirming care to minors. You can read Erin Reed’s full blog here:
If you are not already following her, I encourage you to do so. Erin is a transgendered journalist who tracks LBGTQIA legislation and has proven to be a trusted resource. I went to the HHS website, clicked around and finally found the form myself; it is there. The words used to describe gender affirming care are “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” I think anyone would be alarmed to read that children are being chemically and surgically mutilated. It seems to me that if goal was really the protection of children, then maybe our government would work to pass stricter gun legislation as firearms continue to be one of leading causes of death for children.
There are about only 300,000 trans youth in the US from ages 13-17. This represents around 1.4 % of kids in this age range. If your curious how many trans youths are undergoing “surgical mutilation,” or gender affirming surgery, it is exactly zero. In order to be eligible for gender reassignment surgery you must be at least 18 and complete the extensive protocols recommended by the professionals who specialize in trans health care, using outcome-based research as a guide. It should be noted that not all trans individuals even opt for surgery. As far as “chemical mutilation,” goes trans youth can be prescribed hormone blockers, which delay the onset of puberty. These medications are safe and when they are discontinued the body develops normally. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is generally recommended for adults. And certainly no one is getting these medications at school. When my kids were attending public education, they were not even allowed to have a Tylenol for a headache without a lot of paperwork and permission giving. I think we can safely say, this is not really a problem.
As for trans athletes competing in the NCAA, in December of 2024 it was noted that of the 530,000 athletes participating in NCAA sports at the 1100 colleges there are less than 10 transgendered athletes according to Charlie Baker, the president of the N.C.A.A. Making this a about .00001887% of the total participation in college sports. Some put the number closer to 40 when transgendered men are included. Is this really a problem? No, it is a fabricated concern, meant to distract us from the real inequalities facing women’s sports. Maybe you heard about the fencer that took and knee and was disqualified because she refused to complete against a trans opponent. This is the incident that our congress was debating, even bringing in the head of USA Fencing to testify. This was not even a NCAA event, and the USA Fencing gets not federal funds. The competitor who refused to participate in the match was 31 years old. USA Fencing has its own strict rules around transgender athletes and maintains that they “will always err on the side of inclusion, and we’re committed to amending the policy as more relevant evidence-based research emerges, or as policy changes take effect in the wider Olympic & Paralympic movement.”
Again, this is a made-up problem. Are there cases where women may be disadvantaged, yes, maybe, but each of those situations can be adjudicated individually so that no one is treated unfairly and unkindly. There are already protocols and procedures to ensure fairness in the world of women’s sports. Also, is this really about protecting women’s sports? It has long been noted that Colleges in Division I spend more money on male athletes than that they do on women athletes. This is an inequality that can and should be getting more attention.
There is a concept I use with my clients that came from someone I worked with who had a long history of sobriety and AA. She called it “play that tape all the way through.” I have always liked this idea because it can help us to imagine the long term effects any given decision might cause.
Focusing on trans women athletes can lead to genital searches to ensure that women who are strong, tall, and muscular are really women. And this can be applied to our adolescent female competitors as well. There have been many bills across the country that so far have been defeated that include both internal and external genital searches.
Focusing on this made-up idea that women need to be protected from transgendered athletes narrows the idea of what a woman should look like. And it places the representation of what constitutes the characteristics of womanhood in the hands of men. Something we, as women have be fighting since the beginning of time.
So, the false narrative that trans women are a huge threat to cis gender women was never intended to protect women, in fact it is likely to do the exact opposite if we play that tape all the way through.
As women we need to stand with trans women, for by protecting them we are also protecting all of us. Women come in all shapes and sizes and are as varied and diverse as life itself. I stand for a diversity of women and that must include our transgendered sisters.