As the debate over transgender-identifying male athletes competing in female sporting events grows, many commentators have been asking: Does somebody have to get killed or badly hurt before the officials making these decisions wake up and prioritize female safety over transgender ideology?
The short answer? Probably. We’ve already seen women get severely injured by male opponents, most famously when gender-confused MMA fighter “Fallon Fox” (Boyd Burton) cracked the skull of his female opponent, Tamika Brents. Despite that, males are still allowed to compete against females in many leagues, events, and competitions. Reporting on Brent’s broken skull faithfully referred to Burton as a “woman.”
I’m morally opposed to our modern forms of gladiatorial combat generally and female combat sports specifically, but it isn’t just those sporting events that are seeing women get badly injured. In September 2022, 17-year-old Payton McNabb was smashed in the face by a volleyball when a “transgender” male opponent struck the ball with such force that she was thrown to the ground, unconscious. The ball was travelling 70 mph.
As the Daily Mail reported recently, the “5ft 11in trans player cackled in delight, Ms McNabb said, after sending her to the floor. As did other players in the opposite team.” The male was much taller than the other players; Payton was out cold for 30 seconds “with her arms locked upright in a ‘fencing’ position.” She was initially diagnosed with a concussion, traumatic brain injury, partial paralysis on her right side, vision problems, and whiplash. Now 19, she still deals with these problems.
Payton’s dreams of athletics and a volleyball scholarship were over; she is now a communications student at Western Carolina University, but she “continues to struggle to move the right side of her body, leading her to regularly lose her balance and suffer from falls.” Additionally, she still suffers from the brain trauma, requiring hours of tutoring each month as well as more time taking tests as a result. Her vision struggles as well as anxiety and depression have accompanied her ongoing struggle for recovery.
This tragic outcome was predictable. As the Daily Mail noted, a “major review carried out last year found that early exposure to testosterone” in transgender-identifying males “mean they possess at least eight physical and mental attributes that could give them an advantage in sports,” including “greater muscle mass and bone density,” bigger lungs, higher oxygen levels in the blood, and better spatial awareness. This remains true even years after “transition.” Sex Matters recently posted a chart detailing all of the many differences and advantages between male and female athletes.
“There is a biological difference between the two, there is a difference in sports because of this in the first place,” Payton said. “It’s dangerous to have the two [sexes] competing together, and just not ok. I am disgusted by this, personally. This is morally wrong and evil.” Since her injuries and partial paralysis, she has become an activist with the Independent Women’s Forum, and her testimony at the North Carolina legislature in 2023 was considered “instrumental” in passing a bill banning males from female sports.
The good news is that the advocacy of female athletes like Riley Gaines and Payton McNabb is effective; many jurisdictions have been passing laws protecting female privacy as well as fairness in women’s sports. The bad news is that in the process, female athletes have been forced to undress in locker rooms with males; they have lost opportunities they worked towards for years to males; they have sustained life-altering injuries. The very women written off by the transgender movement as collateral damage have become that movement’s worst nightmare.