The UN is categorical: "Men cannot compete in women's sports categories"

Valentina Petrillo - whose birth name is Fabrizio Petrillo-, Lia Thomas, Tiffany Thomas, Hailey Davidson, Nikki Hiltz... not to mention Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting, two medalists who stirred up so much controversy during the Paris 2024 Olympics. These are some of the hundreds of cases of male athletes competing in female categories. A situation that has led the United Nations (UN) to highlight how harmful it is for women to face men in the same competitions without being mixed, showing its firm opposition in this regard.

The UN delegation on violence against women and girls published a report detailing how it can harm women to compete against people who are genetically male: from losing wins that, under ordinary circumstances, they would achieve to suffering injuries - even of a high degree of severity - to having to share locker rooms and facilities with people who may retain their genital member from birth.

"Loss of fair competition"

"To avoid the loss of a fair opportunity, males must not compete in the female categories of sport. The less powerful man produced more power than the most powerful woman." With these two conclusions, the UN special reporter on violence against women and girls and the author of the report, Reem Alsalen, makes clear her opinion on how women have to beat only against others who are born female in order to maintain honest sportsmanship, without one athlete having an advantage over the other.

The representative gave, as an example, the strength of the punches delivered by men and women in contact sports - as can be boxing, a sport in which Khelif and Lin, two fighters who exceeded testosterone levels and participated in the women's category in Paris 2024, were seen - and the difference between the two is abysmal, showing that such competition would become 'unfair.'

"The average power of men's punches is 162% higher than those thrown by women."Reem Alsalen, U.N. Rep.

That lack of fair competition has led to hundreds of athletes - more than 600, it is contemplated - from more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports modalities having lost more than 890 medals. A clear example of how it seriously harms women to have to compete against men in categories that are not mixed.

Sex-change drugs don't eliminate physical advantages

Alsalen also alluded to the different clinical treatments available for sex change. The UN representative affirmed that drugs used for testosterone reduction or elimination do not imply that this person loses his or her physical faculties, giving him or her an advantage over other people who enjoy an inferior physique, such as, generally, women.

"Pharmaceutical testosterone suppression for genetically male athletes – irrespective of how they identify – will not eliminate the set of comparative performance advantages they have already acquired," she said.

Women are "self-excluded" for fear of "physical injury"

Another reason Alsalen mentions is the "self-exclusion" that women may be forced to go to by having to share track, locker rooms... with biological men. In this regard, the representative emphasizes two aspects: the risk of suffering injuries -some of them being grave- and by the faith that each athlete has and that, on occasions, prohibits coinciding in sports or other spaces with the opposite gender.

"The inclusion of males in the female sport category and related spaces may also lead to self-exclusion, in particular due to fears of physical injuries or due to specific religious beliefs that prohibit females from accessing mixed-sex spaces," Aslalen said.

"Women are also more vulnerable to serious physical injury when women-only sports spaces are opened to men, as has been documented in disciplines such as volleyball, basketball and soccer," she added.

Sharing intimate spaces with people of the opposite gender

Without making mention of it, there are cases of female athletes who have "self-excluded" themselves from participating out of common sense, Also for the simple fact of having to see a person with the opposite genitals to their own in the locker rooms, where athletes shower, change and prepare.

This was one of the main arguments used by Gaines to raise his voice and oppose participating against genetically male people. In her case, one of the most viral, the swimmer had to face Thomas, a man self-declared woman.