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‘Eliminates inclusive environments in women’s sports that have made them feel more comfortable in their bodies’
A University of Guelph professor of management recently blasted the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competitions, claiming those athletes don’t have a “physical, athletic or competitive advantage.”
According to Guelph Today.com, Charles Macaulay said the IOC decision “will have negative impacts for all women and reverberate harm across all levels of sport.”
“I have yet to come across any study that has systematically demonstrated that trans women have some sort of physical, athletic or competitive advantage in sports,” Macaulay said. “The results of trans women athletes competing at elite levels have not demonstrated they are dominating.”
Macaulay, who according to his personal website “immers[es] himself in inclusive pedagogy” and is “dedicated to advancing equity through policies and strategies,” added that the IOC’s “narrow definition” of what a woman is will have ripple effects across “the entire world of athletics.”
This policy will have detrimental effects on all women, he said.
“There are athletes who will be excluded from competition because they will not fit within the definition of ‘female’ as presented in this policy,” Macaulay said, including people born with differences in sex development (DSD). …
This decision will lead to the exclusion of girls and women in sports for naturally occurring differences in their sex development, of being wrongfully accused, accosted and potentially physically harmed due to the paranoia these kinds of policies create, he explains.
It also further marginalizes trans women, eliminating inclusive environments in women’s sports that have made them feel more comfortable in their bodies. “Recognizing and embracing that diversity across all women has profound health and social benefits,” Macaulay says.
MORE: U. Washington professor: ‘no scientific answer as to what is fair’ re: trans-female athletes
The instructor of courses such as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Sport Organizations” and “Sociology of Sport and Physical Culture,” Macaulay noted the reason the IOC singled out trans women is due to the belief no trans male would pose a threat to an elite biological male athlete.
He said it’s “not a biological given” that all men are superior athletes.
“Being an accomplished athlete is more than just physical strength,” Macaulay (pictured) said. “In many sports, skill is a significant factor in success.”
Macaulay’s website notes he’s the author of papers such as “Accounting for race: A critical institutionalist approach,” “Selling Gender Through Kids’ Sport Team Merchandise: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis,” and “A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Big-Time College Sports: Implications for Culturally Responsive and Race-Conscious Sport Leadership.”
MORE: Boy wins 3 events at California girls’ track meet, sets triple jump record
MORE: Study: Opposition to trans athletes rooted in ‘homophobia,’ disdain for female athletes
