Over the past few months and years, the issue of whether or not transgender women should be permitted in women’s sports has become one of the hottest and most polarizing debates in politics. The debate has gotten so fierce that it seems some researchers into the matter have even been threatened.
Last week, a study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender women do not have a general physical advantage over women assigned their gender at birth and that transgender women are noticeably physiologically different than biological men.
It was a rather surprising result, considering the push across the country for transgender women to be banned from sports. Dr. Yannis Pitsiladis, a member of the I.O.C.’s medical and scientific commission who was one of the authors of the study, claims that he and his colleagues have actually received threats as a result of their research.
“Why would any scientist do this if you’re going to get totally slammed and character-assassinated?” Pitsiladis told New York Times. “This is no longer a science matter. Unfortunately, it’s become a political matter.”
Pitsiladis is worried that threats and public scrutiny will result in fewer researchers willingly conducting studies like this, limiting the amount of scientific research that is actually available on the matter.
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