It’s Quiz time
In sports, do men and women have the same physical capability?
Last summer, twenty-three U.S. Senators wrote to the National Collegiate Athletic Association to encourage them to “promote fair play” and defend Title IX by requiring that only women be allowed to participate in women’s sports. This came in the wake of the summer Olympics, where transgender athletes caused heated controversy. But are men and women the same?
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Take this week’s Quiz and find out how much you know!
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Results
#1. Which of the following athletic advantages do males have over females?
In their letter to the NCAA, the twenty-three senators said that, “The science is clear. Males have inherent athletic advantages over females due to their anatomy and biology—including through having larger hearts, higher red blood count, greater lung capacity, longer endurance, larger muscle mass, differences in bone density and geometry, and lower body fat. Consistently, when adult males’ athletic performance is contrasted with adult females’ athletic performance in sports relying on endurance, muscle strength, speed, and power, males dominate, outperforming females by 10 to 30 percent.”
#2. True/False: A year of cross-sex hormones removes the athletic advantage from men participating in women’s sports.
New studies have found that men continue to have an edge over women even after a year of hormone therapy. Though their athletic prowess is decreased, these new studies show that transgender women (men who identify as women) can still do 10% more pushups and 6% more sit-ups than females, after two years of hormone therapy. These males could also run 12% faster on a 1.5 mile than females.
#3. Lia (Will) Thomas, a man participating in women’s college swim meets, ranked ____ place when racing against men and _____ place when racing against women.
Swimming World Magazine gives us Thomas’ numbers from his races when on the men’s team as well as the women’s team. On the men’s team, Thomas ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle. When racing on the women’s team, Thomas moved to fifth, first and eighth in those respective events. This look at Thomas’ numbers shows how shocking a difference there is between female and male athletes.
#4. How many different sports worldwide have been impacted by males competing against females?
According to this list (which is not exhaustive), there have been 29 examples of men participating in, winning and taking opportunities away from women in different sports. It is undeniable that men have an advantage over women.
#5. How many U.S. states currently have laws in place banning men from participating in women’s sports?
There are currently 18 states that have banned men from participating in women’s sports, with several others moving in that direction. States like Idaho, Arizona, Utah and West Virginia are currently facing lawsuits against such bans, but they may join the 18 states that have completely banned men in women’s sports.
#6. Bonus question from last time: In what year was the first “designer baby” born?
Adam Nash was considered the first “designer baby,” and was born in Colorado in the year 2000. He was chosen specifically out of a group of embryos because his embryo did not carry a gene fault that would result in a genetic disorder that affected his sister. His parents planned to use his healthy bone marrow in an operation his sister needed because of her gene fault. Just four months after his birth, both he and his sister went home after a successful bone marrow transplant.
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