Should Males Compete Against Females?

Well, should they? The answer to that question is yes and no because there is plenty of room for nuance. While the scandal of males calling themselves females in order to compete against girls and women where they win most of the medals beggars belief, people with longer memories or longer lives may recall that there was once pressure from women to play against or with men in the sporting arena, and this was not universally popular.

The article below was published in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph, February 13, 1982. The 14 year old Maria Hardy was regarded as the best goalkeeper of West Marsh Invaders, but the people who ran their league had other ideas. No mixed teams, period!

Women’s soccer and even women’s rugby is a thing, but not, apparently, mixed field sports. That has not prevented women from refereeing men’s soccer matches, nor acting as lineswomen, but leaving that aside, is it ever okay for women to compete against men in sports?

There have been women boxers who have fought men and beaten them, but here we should apply the 4% rule which says that at the very pinnacle of physical excellence, around 4% of women can hack it with the men, so no woman will ever become world heavyweight champion. Leaving that aside, women boxing or practising mixed martial arts should be a definite no all round.

There is though, curiously enough, one sport in which women can perform as good as or even outperform men. No, not gymnastics, the ultra-marathon. This has something to do with the distribution of their twitch muscle fibres, but ultramarathons are the sole exception, and why anyone of either sex would want to subject his or her body to such insane punishment beggars belief.

An ordinary marathon may have several categories. The world famous London Marathon includes a section for competitors in wheelchairs. Last year, the top ten male and female wheelchair competitors all finished ahead of the fastest runner, who was unsurprisingly a man from Kenya.

One sport that does not require strenuous effort is snooker, and there is absolutely no reason women should not compete against men in this discipline. Or darts. When it comes to games, all are welcome. Chess is probably the best example of this.

For chess players who start young and play in tournaments, there is a bewildering array on offer. While there may be a prize for the best girl, chess tournaments are based on age and playing strength (grade). Typically, a chess congress will run a minor tournament, a major and an open. A player who is too strong to play in the minor tournament must enter the major; if he is too strong to play in the major, he must enter the open. Conversely, even very weak players may enter a tournament above their grades.

A big congress may have a section or sections for young players, eg under 12s. Sometimes there will even be a veterans tournament. Finally, for those playing in the open, there may be grading prizes, a junior prize, a prize for the highest placed female, etc.

While almost all the strongest players in the world are men, there are plenty of women who compete at national and international level.

In conclusion, men and women can compete against each other in many fields; the only requirements are honesty and common sense, two things of which the noisy trans lobby is painfully deficient.