Trans Swimmers Competing Against Women Is Unfair to Women by Mary Cummins ex Competitive Swimmer (2024)

Trans Swimmers Competing Against Women Is Unfair to Women by Mary Cummins ex Competitive Swimmer (1)

lia thomas, mary cummins, trans, men, women, swimming,swimmer, record, team, compete, fair, hormones, penn state, olympics

I was a top ten swimmer in the United States. I started with Beverly Hills YMCA, Culver City Roadrunners, Beverly Hills Catholic School (now Good Shepherd) and was even on the USC women's swim team for a short time in 1982. The YMCA and Roadrunners had coed practice. USC had separate men's and women's workout sessions because of the large number of athletes.

During swim practice athletes of similar ability and speed work out in the same lane for practical reasons. We swim a few seconds behind each other at around the same pace with the fastest leading. For this reason I worked out with women in my same age group. I worked out with Olympians Tiffany Cohen and Dara Torres though Torres was younger than me.

The men's lanes were the first four on the left and women were on the right. The fastest swimmer was on the left. The fastest swimmers were always the older, bigger men. The slowest were always younger, smaller women.

It's a fact of life that most biological men are bigger, stronger and faster swimmers than women of the same age. Adult men swim 12% faster than women in shorter distances such as 50 meters and 8% faster in longer distances such as 800 meters (based on world records). Clearly women are not competitive against men in swimming. This is why we have different events for men and women which are further divided by age group. The purpose is to be fair to the athletes. All athletes have access to the sport of swimming.

12 year olds swim faster than seven year olds. It wouldn't be fair for a 12 year old to race a seven year old. The seven year old doesn't stand a chance as there is no level playing field. No 12 year old would want to race a seven year old because it'd be an empty embarrassing win. Imagine a big 12 year old standing next to a little seven year old on the winner's platform. The trophy would be like taking candy from a baby.

Even if a man takes hormones to reduce his testosterone, he will still be bigger and stronger than a woman if he went through puberty as a man. The only time when a man may be more equal to a woman in sports is if they take hormones before going through puberty. The hormone level is not the only determinate of fairness. So is size, muscle makeup and body type.

Lia Thomas is a trans swimmer. Thomas ranked 65th at UPenn in 2022 when she swam on the men's team against men in the 500 yd freestyle. She ranked 1st when she swam as a woman against women. Clearly, this is not a fair or level playing field in a competitive setting. It's like the 12 year old swimming against a seven year old.

"Women's sports advocate Riley Gaines, an All-American swimmer who competed for the University of Kentucky, says that she and her teammates were forced to share a locker room with Thomas and were exposed to male genitalia." I feel this is wrong. People changing deserve privacy. Women shouldn't be forced to see male genitalia when they are changing in the women's locker room. Men are not allowed in the women's locker room for this reason and others. Women would be forced to change in a bathroom stall in order to get privacy. An accommodation should be made for Lia.

I was the only woman on the men's water polo team at Beverly Hills High School. Only the men's locker room was open during early morning workout before school. I didn't barge into the men's locker room to change with the boys. They would have complained. I wore my suit under my clothes before I rode my bicycle to school. After workout I changed under a towel in the swim gym. I wouldn't want to make the boys or me uncomfortable.

Title IXis a Federal Civil Rights law amendment made in 1972 which gives all equal access and opportunity in sports in schools which receive federal funds. "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." This is why I was allowed to be on the men's water polo team. They didn't have a women's team. Excluding trans people from sports would be a violation of Title IX and just plain wrong. Everyone should be able to participate no matter what. Having separate mens and womens competitive events is not nor has it ever been a violation of this law. The purpose is fairness. This is why it would be fair to not allow trans men to compete for records and awards against women.

I don't have a problem with trans swimmers on the women's team. Let them work out, compete and have fun with the team. Just don't let them set official records or receive official medals for placing. It's not fair to women. It especially would not be fair if a biological woman is trying to get a swimming scholarship to college and there are only so many spots. A woman would lose an opportunity to compete or receive a scholarship. A woman could also lose out holding official records. We need to be fairer to women in sports while still including everyone.

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

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Trans Swimmers Competing Against Women Is Unfair to Women by Mary Cummins ex Competitive Swimmer (2024)

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