Over the past couple of years, a fierce debate has erupted regarding whether or not transgender women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Critics of transgender athletes often label transgender women “biological men” as part of their arguments, but one expert has concluded that there is a clear difference between a trans woman and a biological man.
According to a report from the New York Times, a new study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender women did not have clear and broad athletic advantages over other women. In fact, the study found that women assigned at birth actually had better jumping ability, lung function and relative cardiovascular fitness than transgender women.
But more than anything, the study led one of its authors – Yannis Pitsiladis, a member of the I.O.C.’s medical and scientific commission – to come to a pretty important conclusion that transgender women and biological men are distinctly different and have clear physiological differences.
“Trans women are not biological men,” Pitsiladis said in conclusion of their findings, according to the New York Times.
Obviously, this is an important conclusion to come to because it directly contradicts rhetoric routinely used by anti-trans activists surrounding this issue.
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