After reading about the young female athletes from my former university refusing to play their sport because of the presence of a trans athlete on the opposing team, I felt nothing but pity for them all. Mostly, for the trans athlete who has to endure the misguided bigotry. But also for the athletes protesting, because they don’t yet know they’re being used.
One day, these young ladies will realize that if anti-trans conservatives were truly concerned about protecting women’s sports from predatory men, they’d be fighting for equal pay and protection from predatory coaches or team doctors. In reality, anti-trans conservatives aren’t worried about the safety and quality of women’s sports nor female athletes.
No. The secret is that they are terrified of a person assigned female at birth showing them up on their turf (or court, or field). Anti-trans conservatives are terrified of the facade of male superiority crumbling as a person assigned female at birth stuffs a ball down their hero’s throat on international television. For there is nothing these particular men fear more than losing their power over women. These men who can’t conceive of a healthy partnership between a married couple, fear nothing more than being treated by women the way they themselves treat women.
These young athletes getting sucked into an anti-trans political campaign reveals several truths. One, that conservatives fundamentally misunderstand being transgender. Another, that they don’t realize feminism is mutually beneficial. Lastly, that women will never gain equality until we stop letting them use us against each other.
LeeAnne Mendenhall, Draper
