Cut The Crazy - No More Men in Women's Sports & Spaces
Updated: 4 days ago
On January 20th of last year, a line was finally drawn in the sand.
A day-one executive order from newly inaugurated President Trump confirmed a pretty basic truth: "' Sex' shall refer to an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female." 1 It went on to define a woman as a grown human female and a girl as a juvenile version. Simple. Obvious.
So obvious. You don't have to be very old to remember a time when the idea that we'd need an executive action to prevent boys from growing their hair long and joining the girls' varsity swim team would sound outlandish. But here we are.
Fast forward to this summer, when WNBA Indiana Fever star player Sophie Cunningham captured the world's attention with her simple defense of girls and women in sports. It began with a retweet she posted in support of women, which received significant blowback.2 Following that, she was asked about her views in an ESPN interview.
She explained, "I want to protect young girls in a locker room or young girls in sports who shouldn't have to go against biological men."
In a later interview, when questioned about it, she doubled down. "I said what I said. I think it's kind of common sense. And I think I'll always believe in that. I think it's important to protect children…"
The reporter asked whether she would be an advocate going forward. Sophie replied, "I don't know. I'm not a very political person, but I do have beliefs. I have morals, and I'll always stand on those and be true to who I am. I think people are going to take it the way they wanna take it…When it comes just to protecting young girls in sport and women in sport. I feel very strongly about that. I don't dislike anyone. I think there is room for absolutely everyone here, and I think there's room to love everyone, and I truly think when you get people in the same room, when you have conversations, you actually have a lot in common with a lot of people. So, I'm there to love, but I'm also there to love biological women, and I think that there are rights that need to be protected, and like I said, I'm going to stand true to that." 3
It is not that complicated, and it's not unkind.
The craziest part is that she is currently the lone voice in the WNBA defending women in sports. It's wild, considering the "W" leading those initials. It's the Women's National Basketball Association, after all. Yet coaches, players, and the organization's leadership seem to lean toward the insanity of inviting men into its ranks.
And despite activist cries of trans rights being human rights, they are a distinct minority. A New York Times poll revealed that roughly 80% of those who responded believe that men should not compete in women's sports.4 That's not a group of Republicans; it's a cross section of everyday citizens. So few issues cross political lines with such united agreement.
Fans have been showing up to Sophie's games with signs supporting her courageous commonsense, and many are wearing the wildly popular XX-XY Athletics gear. 5 (Side note: XX-XY Athletics was founded by a true patriot, Julie Sey. Check out a previous podcast when we sat down with Julie to learn more of her inspiring story.)
Even Stephen A. Smith, a political commentator who clearly leans left, said, "This notion that you're hating on the trans community because you are not a proponent of them participating in female sports is utterly ridiculous…I can't applaud her enough. Sophie Cunningham said every word right on the money. There's no hate involved. There's only love involved, but what happened to loving girls who are born biologically as girls? What about their rights? What about fairness associated to them? Lia Thomas…400th plus in the world competing as a male, transitions to female, and he was number one. If we are going to act like transitioning from male to female doesn't involve an advantage for that trans athlete, I have nothing to say to you. You're not exercising common sense." 6
Former NBA players, Royce White (Sacramento Kings) and Enes Kanter Freedom (Boston Celtics, and more), somewhat humorously announced their eligibility for the WNBA draft. The official rules state that all players must be women but don't define what a woman is, and WNBA leadership seems unclear on that point, too. It's worth noting that the men's league, the NBA, doesn't bother to define what a man is… because it's obvious.
White's tongue-in-cheek video announcement in his deep baritone included the following: "I'm transgender. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball." In his video, Freedom stated, "Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in May 2027." 7
Our hats are off to these men standing up for women in sports, since it seems the women of the WNBA (Sophie being the exception) won't do it for themselves.
Despite sanity returning to the White House, craziness has ramped up with the push for a culture where gender identities are nearly innumerable. You're considered heartless if you don't embrace transgender mores, and for some reason women have taken the hardest hit. Men dressing as women demand acceptance as female, despite the simple fact that they are merely depicting a caricature of woman-face, mocking what true femininity is, just as Americans of color were belittled when blackface flaunted its mimicry decades ago.
The facts have been clear forever. Transgender women are men. Complete with their advantages in physical competition, "junk" neatly tucked away, they are often able to dominate in women's sports. Because they are guys. They don't menstruate, and no matter what they do to mask their masculinity, they are men. Too many young female athletes have had to lose to males infiltrating high school and college women's athletics.
Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller were male high school students who identified as transgender girls and competed in track alongside female students in Connecticut. Both won in those girls' competitions for obvious reasons. Apparently, after their victories, the WNBA took to social media to celebrate these two guys in a post celebrating "Woman Crush Wednesday." 8 Now, with all of the controversy swirling around their stances on women in professional basketball, it seems that the league will need some time to discuss and define what a woman is. Wow.
This summer, the Supreme Court ruled that states can lawfully exclude trans athletes from girls' sports, which is an important and impactful ruling. Still, only 27 states have embraced it with laws protecting girls. In the remaining (mostly blue) states, the battle continues to advocate for and protect our female athletes.
The controversy surrounding men infiltrating women's sports is far from settled. To most, the answer is easy and obvious, but critics, for now, seem louder than the overwhelming majority. That's why, as women, we must continue to advocate for our girls in sports and elsewhere, speaking and acting with kindness and clarity, raising our voices in schools, our communities, and civic organizations, and especially in the voting booth.
Podcast Note: From childhood, Kaillie Humphries dreamed of becoming an Olympian. She went on to become the most accomplished woman in bobsledding history, earning six Olympic medals and numerous World Championship titles. But when Kaillie wanted to become a mother, she was told to put that dream aside.
An Olympic champion doesn't let obstacles stand in the way. Kaillie joins us to share her journey from competing for Canada to making history with Team USA as the first woman to win Olympic gold in monobob, and ultimately to one of her greatest victories of all: becoming a mom.
Tune in on Tuesday at 10am EST to listen to the podcast on your favorite platform: YouTube, Rumble, Spotify or Apple
While you're here, check out our Back to School Resources for Moms on our Moms Town Square: Join Now for FREE
