In recent months and years, the issue of whether or not transgender women should be permitted to compete in women’s sports has become one of the most polarizing debates in politics and sports. But in the face of a study that suggests transgender women might not have general athletic advantages over other women, one doctor supports bans on transgender athletes.
A recent study financed by the International Olympic Committee determined that transgender women do not have clear and general advantages over other women due to the decline in testosterone which leaves transgender women “carry this big skeleton with a smaller engine,” as explained by one researcher, Dr. Yannis Pitsiladis. However, another doctor disagrees with this determination.
Michael J. Joyner, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic who studies the physiology of male and female athletes, says that even if a transgender woman’s athletic ability is limited by the suppression of testosterone, the presence of testosterone in the body at one point still causes a difference in body composition and athletic ability.
“We know testosterone is performance enhancing,” Dr. Joyner said according to the New York Times. “And we know testosterone has residual effects.”
Dr. Joyner supports transgender sports bans for this reason because high-level athletic competitions are determined by just thin margins.
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