September 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the “Battle of the Sexes,” an epic tennis match between Bobby Riggs, age 55, and Billie Jean King, age 29. The internationally televised match was viewed by an estimated 90 million people worldwide.
Bobby Riggs was the Number 1 ranked men’s tennis professional in 1946 and 1947, while Billie Jean King was the Number 1 ranked women’s tennis professional in 1972. Riggs, ever the showman, challenged women tennis pros to exhibition matches to promote the game of tennis (and himself). After beating Margaret Court in May 1973, Riggs set his sights on Billie Jean King. After refusing several times, King finally accepted the challenge. There was also a $100,000 prize at stake.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
So on September 20, 1973, Riggs and King met at the Houston Astrodome for the epic winner-take-all “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match. It wasn’t just about the money, it was a battle for superiority between men and women. After all, Title IX Civil Rights Act, which protected women’s sports, had just passed into law in 1972.
Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in three straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. King’s win was seen as important for women’s tennis specifically and women’s sports in general. It helped spur more women into sports and led to more pay equity for women in all sports.
NOW IT’S BATTLE OF THE GENDERS
Fast forward 50 years. The “Battle of the Sexes” has morphed into the Battle of the Genders as men, identifying as women, compete regularly in women’s sports. Transgender (male) athletes are now participating in (and winning) women’s competitive swimming, weight lifting, and other sports.
Most notable is trans swimmer Lia Thomas, who won the 2022 NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle event. Interestingly enough, when Thomas competed against men in swimming events, he was ranked 554th in the 200-yard freestyle.
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
Men have genetic superiority over women in size, weight, and strength. Testosterone regulates bone mass, muscle strength, body composition, and fat distribution. It provides men with a natural advantage.
Landmark research in 2021 at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and the University of Manchester in England found that men typically have a 10-50 percent performance advantage over women. Studies also showed that trans women (men) have a loss of only 5 percent of lean body mass, muscle area, and strength even after 12 months of testosterone suppression (gender-affirming care).
The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a paper in 2022 that said “the former male physiology of trans woman athletes provides them with a physiological advantage over the cis-female athlete.” In other words, gender-affirming care does not eliminate a man’s physical advantage.
Even Caitlyn Jenner, who won gold in the male decathlon at the 1976 Olympics before becoming one of the world’s best-known trans women, called Lia Thomas’s success in swimming “anathema to what sports represents and the spirit of competition.”
The unfair advantage of one trans swimmer goes beyond just winning or losing one particular event. Trans women (male) athletes rob women of chances for college scholarships, recruitment opportunities, and product endorsements.
That doesn’t even take into consideration trans women (men) joining sororities and parading around sexually aroused. Or trans girls (boys) going into high school girls bathrooms and raping high school girls. Who are we really protecting?
STOLEN OPPORTUNITIES
The Woke crowd has effectively stolen women’s competitive sports away from women and handed it to men on a silver platter. What happened to the #MeToo Movement fighting for women to be heard? Why have Title IX protections for women been abandoned? At what point did women become second-class citizens again? Are trans rights more important than women’s rights?
The voices that have yelled the loudest and canceled the most are the ones that have drowned out the voices of reason. Fear of appearing to discriminate against a protected class, even in favor of another protected class, keeps people from stating the truth: Men have no business playing in women’s sports.
If trans women (men) want to participate in competitive sports, then let them participate in sports with each other. Men’s sports, women’s sports, trans sports. That will level the playing field and protect all groups equally.
After all, isn’t that what everyone wants – for all people to be protected and treated equally?
Image from: wwd.com/popculture
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