The World Boxing Council (WBC) announced Monday that it is banning transgender athletes from fighting athletes of the opposite biological sex because of fairness and safety concerns.
In a press release detailing its new transgender policy, the Mexico City-based WBC, one of the four major international organizations overseeing professional boxing, declared:
The WBC is committed to its value of fair competition. A combat sport bout should occur between two equally matched competitors. At present there is no consensus whether a bout between a transgender woman against a cisgender (biological) woman is a fair bout between two equally matched competitors. Metric[s] such as testosterone level less than 10 nanomoles per liter (achieved by using testosterone suppression medication in the transgender woman), in isolation is inadequate to ensure fairness at the time off [sic] the bout. It can be argued that by the time a transgender woman combatant launches her professional career she has already gone through male puberty thus conferring her with the musculature and bony structure of a male. So, a transgender woman combatant may have an unfair advantage over her cisgender woman combatant.
Similarly, the WBC argued that there is no consensus on whether a transgender man (i.e., a biological woman) would be fairly matched against a biological man. Most likely, the trans man would be at a disadvantage because of the biological man’s superior skeletal and muscular structure.
“Combat sports such as boxing are unique since every punch thrown at the head is thrown with the intention of winning by causing a knockout,” wrote the WBC. Thus, “these sports carry an exceedingly high risk for both acute and chronic neurological injuries,” up to and including death.
“The WBC advocates for two equally skilled and matched athletes competing in the cage or ring, on a level playing field and to keep matches fair, competitive, entertaining, and most importantly safe for all combatants,” reads the statement. “At present level of scientific knowledge, the WBC consensus is that allowing transgender athletes to compete raises serious health and safety concerns.”
The WBC is just the latest in a string of international sports organizations to put genuine fairness — not the kind preached by the transgenderism cult — and safety ahead of political considerations.
In June, international swimming body FINA prohibited transgender women from participating in women’s swimming competitions. “Biological sex is a key determinant of athletic performance, with males outperforming females in sports … that are primarily determined by neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and respiratory function, and anthropometrics including body and limb size,” states FINA’s policy. “The extent of the male/female performance gap varies by sport and competition, but the gap universally emerges starting from the onset of puberty.”
“In sports and events involving collisions and projectiles, biological female athletes would be at greater risk of injury,” it explains.
That same month, the International Cycling Union (UCI), while not out-and-out banning trans women from participating in women’s cycling events, nevertheless made it more difficult for them to do so by increasing the number of years a man must “transition” to female and decreasing the maximum testosterone level he may possess before competing against women.
Unlike government, academia, and other institutions that insist on denying basic facts of biology, sports organizations simply cannot afford to do so without risking the destruction of women’s competitions, not to mention serious injuries to (real) females. It therefore seems likely that more athletic overseers will follow in the footsteps of the WBC, FINA, and UCI.
Of course, the WBC is careful not to appear too opposed to transgenderism lest it incur the wrath of the trans lobby. Its press release opens with the promise that the group “firmly and unequivocally supports transgender rights and recognizes the gender identity of an individual athlete,” a “commitment … grounded in the WBC values of inclusion.” Furthermore, “The WBC shall continue to champion to protect transgender individuals against discrimination at their workplace, in employment, education and access to healthcare.”
In other words, the pugilism poohbahs are committed to woke-ism and will put all their weight behind forcing others to treat transgender folks according to their gender du jour rather than their actual sex, including “at their workplace” — unless, that is, they happen to be professional boxers.
