Over the past couple of years, there has been a strong movement against transgender athletes as many states have enacted bans against transgender women and girls competing against other women and girls in sports. However, according to a recent study, those bans might not actually be backed by science.
According to a report from the New York Times, a new study actually found that not only are transgender women not necessarily athletically superior to other women, but women who were assigned female at birth actually had many physical advantages over transgender women when it comes to athletic competition.
“A new study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender female athletes showed greater handgrip strength — an indicator of overall muscle strength — but lower jumping ability, lung function and relative cardiovascular fitness compared with women whose gender was assigned female at birth,” the New York Times reported.
“That data, which also compared trans women with men, contradicted a broad claim often made by proponents of rules that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. It also led the study’s authors to caution against a rush to expand such policies, which already bar transgender athletes from a handful of Olympic sports.”
Obviously, this study goes against the widely-held belief that transgender women have many physical advantages over other women.
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