To add to what's already been said. This is what I remember reading about it from my endocrinology coursework.
Since this article is about transwomen I will be focusing on that.
First let's discuss HRT. While not every transperson undergoes HRT, (despite what the truscum say every transperson is valid), the effect of HRT on the body is relevant to this discussion.
Bone density can be affected by HRT.
If a transfemme is training while on HRT, it is harder for them to build muscle mass on account of the testosterone blockers that are used.
If a transfemme has finished HRT, they will build muscle mass at a similar level to ciswomen.
During HRT, transfolks must undergo regular tests for blood testosterone, cis athletes do not unless there is evidence of performance enhancing drugs. So there is scant data as far as I'm aware comparing the hormone levels of the two.
This confers no clear advantage to transfolks over cis.
Secondly hormone levels are not as cut and dry as gender essentialists will have you believe.
while amabs typically have more testosterone than afabs this isn't necessarily the case. I'd wager most people haven't even checked. Why would you unless a doctor advised you to? Gender essentialists just assume that:
man = big testosterone rawr
women = small testosterone :(
Based on nothing but a child's understanding of biology.
this poor view of endocrinology has led to afab women being punished by the rules transphobes campaigned for to restrict transwomen, (this has been mentioned in other users' comments on the Caster Semenya case so I'm not going to retread it here).
Formatting is a bit weird so apologies for that, I tried to use bullet points to space shit out so it wasn't just some big fucking wall of text.
To add to what's already been said. This is what I remember reading about it from my endocrinology coursework.
Since this article is about transwomen I will be focusing on that.
First let's discuss HRT. While not every transperson undergoes HRT, (despite what the truscum say every transperson is valid), the effect of HRT on the body is relevant to this discussion.
This confers no clear advantage to transfolks over cis.
Secondly hormone levels are not as cut and dry as gender essentialists will have you believe.
while amabs typically have more testosterone than afabs this isn't necessarily the case. I'd wager most people haven't even checked. Why would you unless a doctor advised you to? Gender essentialists just assume that:
Based on nothing but a child's understanding of biology.
this poor view of endocrinology has led to afab women being punished by the rules transphobes campaigned for to restrict transwomen, (this has been mentioned in other users' comments on the Caster Semenya case so I'm not going to retread it here).
Formatting is a bit weird so apologies for that, I tried to use bullet points to space shit out so it wasn't just some big fucking wall of text.