Beginning this year, USA Boxing will allow men who identify as women to take part in women’s sports, a move that has drawn outrage for being unfair to female boxers.
The new rules, applicable to boxers over the age of 18, were formulated in 2022 and came into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. According to updated regulations, USA Boxing will now allow a male boxer to compete in the women’s category provided that certain conditions are met.
The athlete should declare their gender identity as female and must have completed gender reassignment surgery. The individual should have undergone hormone testing once every quarter for at least four years after the sex change surgery and are required to present documentation of hormone levels to USA Boxing.
The normal range of testosterone for men is over 10 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L). For women, the range is less than 3.1 nmol/L. Transitioning men have to pass testosterone requirements as well.
“The athlete must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 5 nmol/L for at least 48 months prior to her first competition,” the policy states. “The athlete’s total testosterone level in serum must remain below 5 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category.”
If a male athlete seeking participation in female competitions fails these eligibility requirements, they would be suspended for a period of 12 months.
USA Boxing is the national governing body of amateur, Olympic-style boxing and is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
The organization is engaged in developing and promoting the sport at local, regional, and national levels. It also selects teams for international events, including the Olympics, Pan American Games, and the World Championships.
Since USA Boxing has a major influence on the sport in the country, its decision to allow men to compete against women could have significant ramifications.
“It’s bad enough having trans women breaking records in other sports like track and field, swimming, and powerlifting but it’s a bit different to them breaking our skulls in combat sports where the aim is to HURT YOU not just break a record,” she said.
“You don’t see reference or debates for transmen in sport ... cos it’s not a threat … It ain’t just about the test levels, what about their bone density and a heap of other biological factors. Cutting ur bits off and adding boobs won’t take back the masculine maturity your body has gone thru before you decided u are now a woman.”
Men in Female Sports
Like USA Boxing, several major sports organizations are increasingly allowing transgenders to take part in female sports.For instance, USA Fencing implemented its “Transgender and Nonbinary” athlete policy in November 2022. The organization allows athletes to take part in competitions “in a manner consistent with their gender identity/expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.”
Transgender athletes can compete in women’s events after completing 12 months of testosterone suppression treatment. Such individuals have to provide proof of compliant hormone therapy prior to a competition.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) now includes transgender athletes in women’s sports. “Athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity,” the group said in December 2022.
Even though men are being allowed into women’s sports after having undergone medical transition, such procedures fail to address the physical advantages they have over women due to having gone through puberty as males.
Men have a 10–13 percent advantage over women when it comes to rowing, swimming, and road running; a 16–22 percent advantage in football kicks, tennis serves, and pole vaulting; a 29–34 percent advantage in volleyball serves, weightlifting, and golf long drives; and a more than 50 percent advantage in baseball pitches, and field hockey drag flicks.
“Longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area, and strength typically amounts to approximately 5 percent after 12 months of treatment,” the study said.
“Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed. Sports organizations should consider this evidence when reassessing current policies regarding participation of transgender women in the female category of sport.”
