A Transwoman Writes A Letter To Politicians About Transwomen In sports

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Dear Sir or Madam,

I know that you are faced with trans women wishing to compete against born women in sport, & I know that you have to make a difficult decision related to this question. May I say that I do not envy your task.

Transwomen who wish to compete in this way is understandable, but these trans athletes have an unfair advantage over their female competitors. The reason is that they are stronger, by far than women, rendering such competitions, whatever the sport unfair.

I learned to swim in my early 30s & loved being in the water so much that for three years, I swam every day for my pleasure, never competing against any other person. I'm the least competitive person you could ever meet. At my local pool, I saw a poster for water aerobics, again not for competition, only for the joy of exercise. My life had changed in my mid-20s, fully transitioned years before this event & I had noticed that I was stronger in the water than the women around me, to my surprise.

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At the aerobics class at my local pool, I was in the rear of the class, therefore able to see all the women participating in front of me. I was very surprised indeed that the ladies were struggling while I was enjoying the exercise, free from any physical strain at all, & at that moment, I realized just how much stronger I was compared to all the others.

Please don't think that I'm all sporty & full of fitness; indeed, my spine was damaged at school, resulting in surgery on my spine when I was 18 years old in 1976. The surgery left me in chronic pain & with significant limitations for the rest of my life: that moment in the pool, therefore, was a revelation! Damaged as I was, still, I was much stronger than the women around me. Because of this strange advantage, I never returned to the aqua aerobics class again.

Why?

In case it made me conspicuous in that group: I did not belong there.

This personal experience is related to you, to underline that trans women are much stronger than women. Our transformative procedures do not impact at all on our core strength.

Please believe this.

I have not heard of trans men wishing to compete with born men; this is because they have no such unfair advantage over their fellow competitors & emphasizes that the male to female knows for a fact, no less, that they do, indeed, hold an unfair advantage over women. This is nefarious. Sport is known to bring people together, all over the world, to compete in one place, one nation against another, one athlete against another. If you allow trans-women to compete with natural-born women, I believe that you will irrevocably interfere with the natural balance of sports; this could cause a breakdown in this coming together that sport provides. I am not an athlete; I have nothing to gain from writing to you as I have done, but I do have a strong sense of fair play, and this is my only reason for addressing you in this manner, from far away.

I beg your indulgence to consider what I have written, for many athletes' lives could be negatively impacted by allowing such a travesty to happen.

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I am yours & with your respect,

Claudia McLean

London, UK

Follow Claudia On Twitter @claudiamclean22