POLL: Transgender Women in Sports

This ‘Transgender Women in Sports’ poll was conducted via social media on our trans related network on Facebook, Twitter and the TGGuide.com Forum. The poll is not intended to be a scientific sampling, however, it is designed to gain insight into the opinions of the people who visit our social media pages. We received replies from men, women and trans people. This allows us to assume that most will have a somewhat positive attitude toward the transgender community. We well know, however, that opinions within the transgender community are divergent. This was true for our ‘transgender women in sports’ poll, as demonstrated by the summary of our results below.

Thank you to SurveyMonkey.com for helping make this poll possible. We are impressed with the options and tools available for reporting in various visual formats. See the illustrations below. Also, thank you to everyone who participated in or helped share the poll. The comments were civil and productive, even though you will see, there are definitely different opinions, even among transgender people on the hot button topic of transgender women in sports.

Transgender Women in Sports Poll Results

This poll was published on June 20, 2019 and was active for only ten days. During that time 26 respondents took part in the poll while others shared opinions on the original Facebook post. Of the 26 poll respondents, 18 identified as MtF transgender; 2 as FtM transgender; 6 as male; and 4 as female, making this sampling 69.23% MtF transgender.

The following is a list of answer choices along with the corresponding percentages among the poll participants.

Trans Women in Sports Poll Answers

No trans women on women’s teams was selected by 5 poll participants for 19.23%
Trans women are fine on any women’s team was selected by 9 poll participants for 34.62%
Trans women should plan on men’s teams was selected by 0 poll participants (This was a sort of troll trap and we’re glad nobody selected it)
Create trans sports leagues just for trans people was selected by 7 poll participants for 26.92%
Allow trans women only if they have undergone hormone treatment (perhaps for a specified time) was selected by 10 poll participants for 38.46%
Allow trans women only if they have had gender reassignment surgery was selected by 1 poll participant for 3.85%
Allow each governing body/school/agency to adopt its own guidelines was selected by 4 poll participants for 15.38%
Other: Please comment with description below was selected by 2 poll participants for 7.69%

Poll Participant Comments on Transgender Women in Sports

The following is a list of comments posted either in the poll or in comments on TGGuide’s Facebook posts.

MtF Respondent 2

Hormone regime regulations are fine for the upper league leagues if professional sports, but regulating recreational activities is just unnecessary.

MtF Respondent 5

No matter what surgeries or hormones you have to take, you can’t change your genetics. Male to female athletes have a huge advantage over biological women with their bone density and muscle capacity. This is not to say they are not considered women, but rather to point out the physical differences between men and women and why they don’t compete against each other professionally now.

Male Respondent 6

Not fair for trans women to be on women’s teams. And my partner IS a trans woman.

MtF Respondent 12

In theory I would want no restrictions, but that seems easy for boys to claim they are trans and take advantage of. No straight man would take hrt for a prolonged period just to compete with girls. Plus after a year or so on HRT you would have lost most of the advantage of your previous gender. So fair competition, and no non-trans would stay on HRT for a year and likely lose the ability to reproduce, and likely some size just for easier competition.

MtF Respondent 13

If you identify as a woman, you should be on a women’s team. If you identify as a man, you should be on a men’s team. But I do see sports teams using this as a way to “legally cheat” for men’s and women’s teams. So I think having a transgender league for sports would also be a good idea.

Male Respondent 17

Yes, If they have undergone HRT before puberty. But each sport is different in what physical attributes contributes to fair or unfair. It is not a black and white topic and needs to be addressed on an event by event basis

MtF Respondent 19

If a woman (because trans women are women) wants to be on a “men’s” team, that’s fine too. And one other thing: maybe consider hormone testing for ALL athletes in All sports – it might be funny if your favorite cis dude baseball player gets banned for insufficient testosterone.

MtF Respondent 22

I’ve lost a tremendous amount of strength since starting hormones so I don’t see a problem with transgender women being allowed to compete with cisgendered women in any activity.

FtM Respondent 25

I think hormones and SRS should be required of any transexual athlete, male or female. Even more, I believe that a male to female trans woman should not compete unless she has transitioned before puberty and had SRS. Whether people want to admit it or not bone structure and muscular structure are different for men and women after puberty. This poses unfair leverage for male to female athletes who have transitioned after puberty against the different musculoskeletal structure of women who are not transsexual.

I identify as male, and part of me just happens to be a transsexual man. It doesn’t define who I am. And since I transitioned after puberty, unfortunately, it puts me at a disadvantage in male sports. Testosterone can only do so much after bones have permanently fused and growth plates are no longer growing into an adult musculoskeletal system. Fulcrum and leverage is different for an adult male body and adult female body. Adult males’ bodies are made for top physical performance. A woman’s is not. This is the facts of nature. So having a transsexual female who has transitioned (both hormones and SRS) after puberty compete in women’s sports while it might seem unfair to her, in all honesty, it is not fair to the other females because the transsexual female has a male musculoskeletal structure that is by nature more suited to intense physical activity.

Social Media Comments on Transgender Women in Sports

David:

The question has to be applied on an event by event basis as each event has different physical requirements, as well as how much a body changes with HRT depending on if it was done before or after puberty. This is not a topic where you can just take a hard stance of yes or no on.

Jaimie:

So unpopular opinion. I am also transgender. However, we as a community should not be dominating the group of people we so strive to be a part of. I think that competitive sports are one of those things we lose. But if we have an overly strong urge to compete, we should start a league and compete against ourselves. Cis females cannot lift as much as we can. That’s a fact, just look at the statistics with weight lifting, between men and woman. Bicycle racing, men always have a faster time than females. Marathons also. This is completely not fair to cis women athletes. And we should respect that. We want people to accept us, treat us with respect, and we need to reciprocate that, especially the group we want to blend with.

Billie:

The contradictions are mind-boggling. They are so confused and threatened by transgender people. Cis women were so gung ho for equality and participation in cis male sports, even willing to compete with them, then reverse it. I can’t help but roll my eyes at how complacent and quiet they have become on human rights. I know not all cis women are this way, and view us as women. I’m just sad even some would continue to view us as men in dresses not worthy of rights and validation when at one time they were so willing when it came to their own rights and freedom they were willing to take on cis men competitively, I guess as long as those men aren’t transgender. The contradictions and silliness are mind-boggling. I just CAN’T…