ESPN’s Samantha Ponder has clapped back at USWNT soccer star Megan Rapinoe for comments the two-time World Cup winner made regarding violence against transgender people.
Rapinoe believes that people like Ponder’s ESPN colleague Sage Steele, who question transgender participation in women’s sports, lead to a culture of violence against the larger trans community.
“I don’t want to mince words about it,” Rapinoe told TIME. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people. When Martina or Sage or whoever are talking about this, people aren’t hearing it just in the context of elite sports. They’re saying, ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people.'”
Ponder seized on the opportunity to make her position clear and defend Steele.
“Sage says bio males shouldn’t compete in female sports and now she’s to blame for violence? This is an attempt to silence good-faith discussion and debate,” Ponder responded. “Disagree passionately, say she’s wrong (& why)… but to claim she is responsible for violence is absurd.”
No Place For “Good Faith” In Culture Wars
Language, context, and nuance are so important in any “good faith” discussion or debate. But that’s not what the culture wars are about. Loudly claiming your position and making it a central part of your identity and how it defines you against others, that is what the culture wars are doing. There is no room for actual debate or discussion.
Rapinoe is entitled to her opinion, and it’s hard to disagree with her position. Violence against transgender people is real and on the rise.
A 2021 study published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that trans people are four times more likely to experience violence and abuse compared to cis people.
Now, Ponder and Steele are also entitled to believe that biological males shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports. That is their right.
But when you use terms like “biological males” it’s a dog whistle to the most ardent anti trans people, who don’t actually care about women’s sports. But define themselves as being anti-trans, anti-other etc. It gives subconscious license for those people to continue to feel the way they do, and the worst among them license to perpetrate violence. Be it verbal or otherwise.
Are Transgender Women Taking Over Sports?
People feel very strongly about biology and when a person’s biology is decided. The idea that biology can be changed is unsettling. But like most things, it’s rooted in fear and lack of knowledge.
According to that same Williams Institute report, of the estimated 332 million citizens living in the United States, 1.3 million adults and 300,000 youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, equaling half a percent and 1.4 percent of the population respectively.
An even smaller percentage of that community competes in girls’ and women’s sports.
“While we don’t know the exact number of trans women competing in NCAA sports, I would be very surprised if there were more than 100 of them in the women’s category,” researcher and medical physicist Joanna Harper told Newsweek.
There seems to be a lot of fervor and anger directed at a tiny fraction of people, who are already severely marginalized in society. Given all the coverage this particular battle of the culture war receives, one would think transgender women are trying to take over sports.
If the goal is fairness and equality for all, we must first begin with empathy before engaging in true and honest debate and discussion. But empathy has no place in the culture wars.
