Shadowed Victories: Having transgender girl athletes compete in high school sports doesn’t threaten cisgender girls

Sally Sue was by a lot.

Her feet pounded on the track one after another as she used her naturally stronger build to push herself in front of her cisgender competitors. She glanced over her shoulder at the competition.  

The seven other girls running the 400-meter race with her were behind. Not just a few feet behind or even a couple yards. They were so far away their features began to blur together, creating three blobs struggling to catch up. 

Sally was sure this would be another record-breaking time in the books. Another scholarship offer. Another win. 

Except that didn’t happen — and it never will. 

In the wake of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the conversation about how transgender athletes should be categorized in sports has reemerged. And while the Olympic Committee has taken its stance on the matter by having athletes test their testosterone levels before competing, high schools around the country are still in a debate over the subject. 

But at the high school level, it really shouldn’t be a debate at all. Allowing transgender girls to compete in high school sports that align with their gender identity doesn’t signal the end of cisgender women winning competitions or the beginning of stories like “Sally Sue’s.” In fact, it doesn’t even pose a threat. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, boys after puberty have testosterone levels 10 to 15 times higher than girls. But females with higher levels of testosterone aren’t necessarily a new concept.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS raises testosterone levels in biological females. According to the World Health Organization, this condition allows those affected, in certain cases, to build muscle more easily. 

An estimated 5 up to 15% of women are affected by PCOS, according to the National Institutes of Health. And while being transgender and having PCOS aren’t the same, those with PCOS aren’t even close to being banned from their sports for fear of “unfair competition.” 

For comparison, an estimated 1.4% of 9th through 11th graders in the US identify as transgender, genderqueer or genderfluid, according to a study done by the National Library of Medicine. Of this group, an estimated 38.5% identify as transgender women. While transgender youth is a prominent group, it isn’t even close to an overwhelming majority. 

The flood of transgender girls swooping in to knock cisgender girls out of high school competition is not only highly exaggerated but statistically impossible. According to the Center for American Progress, only 13.4% of athletes aged 13 to 17 identify as transgender. With those numbers, it’s hard to even entertain the delusion that trans women are “taking over” high school sports. 

But it’s not just the unlikeliness of the circumstance that transgender girls begin dominating high school sports, it’s also a matter of students’ mental health and wellbeing. 

According to an article by the Scientific American, banning trans athletes from competing in the sport that aligns with their gender identity causes unnecessary amounts of stress and anxiety in a population of students who likely are already struggling with these issues. 

Transgender youth experience more anxiety and depression than their cicgender peers, according to a study done by the National Library of Medicine. Transgender and queer youth also experienced higher rates of depression, bullying and anxiety than the cisgender youth tested. 

There’s no reason to escalate the problem and force transgender youth into situations that may make them feel out of place or uncomfortable.

While it can be easy to forget that the people making such life-altering decisions, such as coming out as transgender, aren’t adults, it’s important to remember that each one is a child trying to find their place in high school. 

Hormone blockers before puberty have been proven to leave post-pubescent transgender girls with similar levels of testosterone as cisgender girls of their age — according to the National Library of Medicine. The argument that transgender athletes should be forced to take these hormone blockers is also flawed. Ethically, coaches shouldn’t force any team member to take supplements or alter their body in ways that could potentially affect them for life. Neither should transgender teammates. 

It can be difficult to understand the situations transgender youth, especially transgender girls, experience when they’re forced to play on a team that does not align with their gender identity. 

But think of it this way: if we reverse the roles, it’s the same as forcing cisgender athletes to play on the sports team opposite to their gender. All it does is make the athlete in question uncomfortable and can lead to unnecessary anxiety or stress.

Both parties are put in uncomfortable situations every day involving locker room anxiety, cliques on teams and even discrimination from coaches and teammates. 

As educators, parents, peers and coaches, it’s important to let transgender youth and girls decide where they belong and what they enjoy doing without the added pressure of having to fight to play on the team where they feel they fit in.

Let’s face it, that form of exclusion is just plain discrimination.