The gendering of sports has not directly constrained my participation but has shaped my experiences. As someone who was AMAB (assigned male at birth), I felt comfortable playing with girls my age as a child. However, I was often mocked for this and pressured to participate in more traditionally masculine sports, such as football and cricket, rather than so-called “feminine” sports like badminton. The expectation that I should engage in activities emphasizing power and aggression conflicted with my personal preference for sports that felt safe and enjoyable.

Growing up in a traditionally conservative environment made it difficult to challenge these norms, reinforcing rigid gender expectations in sports. As a young child, I did not initially perceive a real difference between masculine and feminine sports, but those distinctions were already predetermined and dictated to me for reasons I did not yet understand. This experience highlighted how deeply ingrained societal perceptions of gender and athleticism are, shaping participation and access to sports from an early age.

Despite these pressures, my experience was not as difficult as it could have been because, as a man, it is easier to conform and mold oneself into societal expectations due to the privileges afforded by patriarchy. In a conservative environment, there is always an underlying expectation for men to eventually “fall in line” with traditional masculinity, which makes non-conformity challenging but not entirely impossible. The systemic reinforcement of male privilege means that, even when I was discouraged from engaging in certain activities, I still had the flexibility to adapt without facing the same level of exclusion or scrutiny that women or gender-nonconforming individuals often endure in sports

For the poll, I voted as follows:

• Football – Male (majority)
• Basketball – Male (majority)
• Soccer – Male, but the majority response was neutral
• Powerlifting – Male (majority)
• Volleyball – Female (majority)
• Hockey – Accidentally selected female, but intended to vote male (majority expected)
• Gymnastics – Neutral, but the majority response was female
• Softball – Neutral, but the majority response was female

The results mostly aligned with my assumptions, reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes in sports. Strength-based sports like football and powerlifting were male-coded, while agility-focused sports like gymnastics and volleyball were female-coded. However, I was surprised that soccer was viewed as neutral, suggesting a shift in perception due to the rising visibility of women’s soccer. These results highlight how deeply ingrained gender norms remain in sports culture.

The newfound fascination with women’s sport is more about policing marginalized communities and less about empowering women athletes. Historically, women’s sports have been poorly funded, subject to low media profiles, and structurally constrained from maximizing opportunities. But very few of the activists promoting bans of trans women in sports have cared to work on these matters. Such discriminatory pick-and-choose activism shows that such constraints are transphobic rather than about achieving gender equity in sports.

Moreover, there is an area of hypocrisy I would like to explore, the same level of scrutiny that trans women face is not directed towards trans men who participate in men’s athletics. This is the reflection of a societal inclination to ignore the transitions of those assigned females at birth in the upholding of rigid ideas concerning athleticism and gender. The focus on trans women competing only serves to continue harmful narratives about who is “worthy” of participation rather than affirming an even and inclusive athletic space. Sustainable sports fairness has to put equality, evidence-based policy, and equal access to all sports people first.

From a biological standpoint, genetics play an important role in athletic success. Height, muscle fiber, lung capacity, and reaction time are naturally occurring strengths that influence performance. In basketball, height is a clear-cut advantage, and in endurance events, some athletes naturally utilize oxygen more efficiently. These strengths are rarely challenged because they fall within the parameters of competition. Similarly in the example of Michael Phelps, the unusually large wingspan, double-jointed ankles that allow for greater flexibility, and a body that produces less lactic acid, reducing fatigue, all factors give him a great advantage.

Other than genetics, economic advantage also contributes heavily to sporting achievement. Affluent players can afford better training facilities, coaches, nutrition, and gear, giving them an edge over others who cannot afford the same. Olympic-level training is expensive, and the majority of talented players are excluded merely because they cannot provide the same amount of preparation as others with whom they are competing. This structural handicap is, nevertheless, largely taken for granted to be part of the game.

Given all these facts, it is evident that sports fairness has never been an elastic definition. But when trans athletes are brought into the picture, suddenly the discussion is all about hard definitions of fairness. If fairness were the issue at stake, there would be more of an economic disparity and genetic advantages discussion rather than selectively making arguments of fairness against excluding marginalized athletes.

This is not about levelling the playing field; rather, it is about establishing a scapegoat cis woman to reinforce the notion that any woman who does not adhere to limited, archaic ideas of femininity must be questioned, probed, and dehumanized. The fact that trans women are not even allowed to compete in the Olympics, yet their existence is still “up for debate” demonstrates that this is a bad-faith attack on transgender people. It’s about preventing trans women from being openly present, as well as excluding them from sports, the public discourse, and anywhere else where they could be allowed to succeed. It’s about daydreaming, about believing that a person’s womanhood may be taken away by the worst of the internet’s scammers and reactionaries.

The kicker is that when transphobia runs rampant, even cisgender women suffer collateral damage. The same individuals who claim to be “protecting” women’s sports are the ones that undermine women’s confidence, eroding their right to compete and even their right to exist without scrutiny.This was never a sport. It has always been about control and about determining who is considered human and who may survive without being subjected to relentless, harsh dehumanization.