A tiny number of men in women’s sports is not equal to only having a tiny impact

 Six days have passed since Sport New Zealand took a massive dump on women’s sports. The stench still lingers.

During that time many scathing articles¹ and commentaries have been written about Sport NZ’s recently released transgender participation guidelines. These guidelines basically say that any man at any time can self-identify as a woman and play in women’s sports, no questions asked. In fact, a bloke can rock on up to a sports club, identify as a woman, play in women’s sports, and then go back being a bloke afterwards. If he’s asked questions like “hey dude, aren’t you a dude?”, expect trouble. Lots of trouble – like accusations of wrongful discrimination.

Sporting bodies in NZ, which rely on Sport NZ for at least some funding, know a threat to that funding when they see one. These guidelines, promoted under the guise for community sports only, and (technically) not compulsory, are an iron fist in a velvet glove. With a hammer in the other fist. Sport Minister, Grant Robertson, declared that those who objected to these guidelines were “petty and small-minded”

Let’s be honest about these men in women’s sports we’re being “petty and small-minded” about - they are always mediocre, or older, sportsmen. No young, elite sportsman at the top of his game has ever self-identified as a woman and played in women’s sports, to my knowledge. If I’m wrong, let me know. To date, though, the men I have seen stepping up on the podium to take women’s prizes have all been mediocre achievers when they participated as men in men’s sports, or they are now older. That plain-to-see biological difference between women and men should be slapping Sport NZ in the face. But, as the saying goes, none so blind as those who will not see. Most of the rest of the country can see it, though, so I don’t know how exactly this forced inclusion of men in women’s sports won’t end up driving some division in real life.

Save Women’s Sports Australasia co-spokeswoman, Rowena Edge, appeared on The Platform NZ and Sky News Australia to discuss the travesty of women seeing their spots on the podium taken by men who identify as women. These men don’t have to be women, with all that is incumbent with that, simply claiming to be women is enough. If only everything was that easy, eh? The hosts of the above-mentioned shows understood what the problem was. Conversely, the hosts of the AM Show, Melissa Chan-Green and Ryan Bridge, didn’t seem to.

Whether or not Melissa and Ryan were told what questions to ask and attitude to take by the producer of their show, I don’t know. In some ways, though, it was a bit embarrassing to watch them bring out the same ol’ chestnuts of -

1)    “women come in all shapes and sizes, and some women are bigger than some men”

2)      “there are only a tiny number of men who want to play in women’s sports, so what’s the matter with just a few women missing out for those poor, vulnerable, tragic blokes who identify as women?”

Okay, so the second question in particular wasn’t quite phrased like that, but you get the gist.

To the first ol’ chestnut – men come in all shapes and sizes, too, and most of those shapes and sizes are bigger than most women’s. The odd woman who may be bigger than some men does not mean that it’s therefore pointless segregating sports by sex. I’d put money on it that the number of sportswomen who are bigger and stronger than some sportsmen in the same sport and category is considerably smaller than the number of men who want to play in women’s sports.

To the second ol’ chestnut – the tiny number of men who want to play in women’s sports does not automatically equal only having a tiny impact on women. I don’t think I need to expand on that.

Par for the course for contentious matters, Sport NZ released their transgender participation guidelines in December just before Christmas. Like others who’ve done this before them, they’ll be hoping that people are exhausted as usual by year-end, won’t want to go into battle at this time, and will have either forgotten about it next year or moved on to other things. This government strategy has paid off in the past.

Somehow, though, I think Sport NZ may have spectacularly mis-read the room on this occasion.

• First published on: aboldwoman (dot) substack (dot) com