World Athletics has officially banned transwomen from competition. No category is provided for them and transwomen would not be allowed to compete in the men's category. Another ban has been issued to women with differences in sexual development. Women with SDS are not transwomen, so it is puzzling why they were included in the new policy. The argument is that both transwomen and women with SDS have an unfair athletic advantage. There are few transwomen active in sports and there is not enough data on their performance to say it is impossible for cisgender women to compete with them. Sexual reassignment surgery and hormone replacement does reduce testosterone levels. World Athletics intends to within a year address the issue of transwomen's inclusion. Sebastian Coe President of World Athletics admitted that there are no transwomen currently active in elite international competition. The assertion of protection of female athletes is dubious. Scientific data has shown that transwomen do not remain the same athletic performance, prior to transition. The question remains whether or not all physical advantages can be reduced. If bans can be applied to one group and can be done to others. Russia and Belarus are being excluded based on politics. Policing this new policy could revive sex testing. The argument of ensuring fairness is covering obvious discrimination. World Athletics could have avoided human rights violations and criticism by creating an open category. The formation of an open category would allow transwomen to compete and prevent discrimination against LGBTQ athletes. The controversy will not go away with a ban. More protests and objections will be directed at World Athletics due to this decision.
