A government-funded outlet that previously received funding to “encourage vaccine confidence” has published an article claiming that it’s a myth that men have an advantage over women in sports.
The Conservation, a non-profit outlet that regularly accepts money from the Government of Canada, came out swinging against Premier Danielle Smith’s “anti-trans” legislation that just passed third reading in the Alberta legislature.
Smith’s Bill 29 would ban trans-identifying biological men from competing against women within Alberta, including in schools and provincially regulated sports competitions.
“Legislation like Bill 29 is based on a widespread myth that transgender women have an inherent biological advantage that threatens the integrity and fairness of women’s athletic competitions. This myth is not based on fulsome scientific and sociocultural evidence,” the authors, all professors in gender studies and the like, argued.
The authors acknowledge there are studies that show men are superior at sports, but claim that these studies “are often methodologically flawed and use limited biological data.”
Further, the authors argue that the idea there are two sexes is a social construct.
“Humans have significant biological variations and there are no strict measures that can determine maleness or femaleness. In addition, there is no direct and consistent research to show that transgender women (or transgender men) have an athletic advantage in sport,” they wrote.
They go on to make suggestions on how to deal with transgender athletes. One option, they suggest, is to change the men’s leagues to “open” meaning men or women can participate, while changing women’s leagues to “women/girls and gender diverse people,” meaning women and trans-identifying biological men.
It’s unclear whether this is more embarrassing for the Government of Canada or for academia.
Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, also known as Bill 29, passed its third reading on Tuesday, marking a historic moment for the province in terms of legislation concerning sports and fairness for women and girls.
