Should Men and Women Play Sports in the Same League?

 

Is There a Better Way to Separate Sports?

    As you are probably aware, sports are notoriously split by the men's league and the women's league. But why is that?  Sports are divided by the assumed natural differences between men and women. Women are seen as the inherently weaker sex. This concept gained traction back in the eighteenth century. Even with the odds stacked against them, women competed in sports through the nineteenth century. That was until a ban was initiated on women's football. People in the 1920's believed women were unsuitable for the physicality of the sport. This banned last until 1970s. Even though women were allowed to play other sports, they were required to go through a "femininity test". Participants had to undergo an inspection of their external sexual organs. This system was put in place so women with more "masculine" traits couldn't play in women's sports. Though our world has evolved from the nineteenth century, sports are still exclusionary (Wills, https://daily.jstor.org/gender-incommensurability-in-sports/). 

    Sports are segregated by gender on the bases of fairness. Many people believe it wouldn't be fair to let men play in women's sports and vice versa. People argue men are just naturally better at sports than women. Athletic performance is based on four different categories, anatomical, physiological, psychological, and socioeconomic. Anatomical refers to physical features such as height and humans bodily structure. Usually, men have larger hearts, lungs, and more muscle mass. Men seem to have more muscle mass in their upper bodies while women have greater lower muscle mass and are more fatigue resistance. This would give men an advantage when it comes to sports that rely heavily on strength and women an advantage sports focused around running. But, a man and a woman with the same muscle mass have no significant strength difference. That is the same for men and women brains'. They don't have meaningful differences in neurological ability (Ocobock, https://www.sapiens.org/biology/female-male-athletes-differences/).

    While testosterone gives men more red blood cells, estrogen give women better endurance.  Men aren't inherently better at all sports than women. That is a common fallacy based upon men's strength. But strength isn't everything. You could argue that men are still winning more competitions than women. While this is true at the moment, this is also linked to finally starting to be able to compete in sports. With all the myths surrounding women's physical abilities, women are more likely to be deferred from playing sports. Hormones are brought up a lot when talking about sports, particularly the argument that trans women aren't allowed to play in the women's league. Certain people believe it would be unfair since men naturally have a larger amount of testosterone than women. Many people believe testosterone gives men a huge advantage in sports but that's not true. First, men and women need both types hormones to function. Also, many elite women in sports have testosterone levels in range of a typical man while some men had estrogen levels of a typical female. Women are able to compete with men if given a chance. A trans women playing in women's sports wouldn't be different to a female with a higher level of testosterone playing on women's sports. (Ocobock, https://www.sapiens.org/biology/female-male-athletes-differences/). 

    Sports need to be split up in a better way. Since people are worried about the fairness of sports, why can't sports be split up by physical ability, height or testosterone. Instead of barring specific people because of these characteristics, create different leagues bases on these abilities. That would make sports fair and more inclusive. Sports aren't able to be funded differently based on gender. We need to find a way to make sports inclusive and fair, but nothing is going to be perfect. In the end, sports are made to harbor a healthy competition, especially in schools. We should strive to make these environments welcome to everyone.