When I was 12, I played soccer. Though not the best player on my team, I was a decent goalie and a formidable defender. During one game, a determined opponent charged down the field, the ball at her feet. I quickly positioned myself between her and our goal, ready to defend. But as she got closer, it became clear that this girl had hit her growth spurt (while I had not), towering over me with an unexpected advantage. Her height gave her the leverage to kick the ball squarely into my face, cracking my nose.
Now, don’t worry — I’m perfectly fine. This is just the standard hazard of team sports. But it got me thinking: what if that 12-year-old opponent had been a boy playing on a girls’ team? What if he’d had the full force of male puberty behind that kick?
In 2024, that is now a painful reality that many girls across America are facing. Not only are women at risk of being injured in the sports they play but, maybe even more than that, they are at risk of being erased entirely, as opportunities, titles, scholarships, and entire sports categories are slipping into the hands of biological men.
The feminist movement of the 1960s fought for equality and women’s rights. Title IX, passed and signed under President Nixon in 1972, created protections for female athletes, granted additional funding to women’s sports, and guaranteed that no one could be denied participation on the basis of sex. For decades, this was a universally celebrated law. But today, it has been twisted into something that now harms the very people it was created to protect.
Then, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the word “sex” in Title IX to mean “gender identity.” Forget genetics, chromosomes, or biology. Now, if you say you’re a female, you are. The consequences have been catastrophic for women’s sports.
For a brief moment, the definition of “sex” in Title IX was restored to protect biological women thanks to Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary. But on day one of Biden’s presidency, the policy was immediately reversed and Obama’s anti-woman, pro-transgender policy was reinstated.
The left’s misplaced priorities on pronouns and the inclusion of men in women’s sports reveal a disregard for pressing concerns like illegal immigration, national cybersecurity, and international conflicts. On day one of his presidency, instead of focusing on truly concerning issues facing America, Biden erased all of the progress women have fought so hard to make.
How did we get here? How could something so basic and fundamental, like the biological differences between men and women, be completely turned upside down? Since the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, there have been separate men’s and women’s categories for competition, acknowledging the distinct strengths and abilities of each gender.
The 2012 London Olympics were heralded as a milestone for women’s equality in sports, with more female competitors than previous years representing in more categories than ever before, as celebrated in a Time Magazine article after the games concluded. They themselves acknowledged biological sex by stating, “As a result of all the girl power, the makeup of some Olympic delegations has tilted toward the X chromosome.”
But as biological men who identify as women continue to encroach upon women’s sports, these carved-out spaces for female athletes may disappear altogether. Some sports leaders are having to speak out just to keep their sports from becoming co-ed.
The shift in the feminist narrative from promoting equality to supporting the inclusion of men in women’s sports reflects a chaotic political agenda rather than a social cause. If feminism used to mean equality and the protection of women’s rights, it has shifted to mean the denial of gender differences, the erasure of women, and whatever political narrative needs that extra push.
Even strong female figures like author J.K. Rowling and tennis player Martina Navratilova face public criticism for questioning the trans sports movement. Reasonable people are being villainized for recognizing the basic biological differences between men and women.
To this day, feminists argue that women have to work harder than men for success at the same thing. Why does that logic not apply when it comes to physical competition, as biological men dominate women’s sports and deprive opportunities of female athletes?
The issue goes beyond preserving women’s representation in sports; it challenges the erosion of order and common sense. If these so-called feminists actually cared about women, then they would fight to keep men out of women’s sports.
Alexis Wilkins is a multi-faceted country music artist and published writer, writing both her own music and economic and political pieces.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.