• ActuallyASeal@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I think this article is overstating the report’s findings. From the executive summary of the report:

    The research findings in the biomedical area are inconclusive. Studies which make conclusions on pre- and post-hormone replacement therapy (HRT) advantage held by trans women athletes have used either cis men or sedentary trans women as proxies for elite trans women athletes. These group references are not only inappropriate for the context but produce conclusions that cannot be applied to elite trans women athletes. Further, there is little scientific understanding about the attributes or properties of HRT, namely testosterone suppression and estrogen supplementation, on the physiology and athletic ability of trans women athletes. This ignores the potential for estrogen supplementation to reduce Lean Body Mass (LBM), and for testosterone suppression to produce holistic health disadvantages.

    Which in my reading basically says all the current data is invalid for elite level athletes and shouldn’t be used for policy making. That’s not quite as powerful as the conclusion as saying there are no differences.

    I hate to say more research is needed since it’s an argument made by people who just want to exclude trans athletes until it can be definitely proven there are no advantages, but I don’t feel like I can’t come to a conclusion from this.

    My gut feeling is that there is probably a very complex relationship between an individual historic hormones and their performance in any given sport. And that performance is probably very dependent on the sport in question as well, e.g. any potential difference between trans women and cis women will present differently in long distance running vs weight lifting.