A transgender golfer has called for limits on trans women competing in female sports, saying the latest version of the Olympics policy is a ‘slap in the face for women’.
Mianne Bagger, 55, became the first openly trans woman to play in a professional golf tournament when she took part in the Women’s Australian Open in 2004.
But she believes there must be a minimal level of requirement before allowing trans women to play women’s sport, arguing that there is a difference in performance between the sexes.
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After playing amateur golf for a number of years, Bagger was able to play professionally in 2003 after the topic was addressed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which initially allowed trans women to compete as long as they had had surgical intervention, followed by an ineligibility period lasting two years – which happens after a person says they want to compete as the opposite sex to which they were born.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Bagger said: “They then came out with an amendment to that policy in 2015 which removed the requirement for surgery and then only had a 12 month ineligibility period.
“It's quite a drastic difference and in my view this is really quite a slap in the face to women. I've never found that acceptable, at all.”
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Bagger said the latest version of the IOC policy is 'pretty much denying the role of testosterone as a factor in the difference in physical ability between men and women', adding: “Which I think is pretty obvious and quite irrefutable.”
She continued: “It is male puberty that gives men and boys the physical advantage over women in sport and physical ability in general.
“I am still of the view that the 2003 policy should stand, with an appropriate amendment on more emerging research. My views haven't changed at all.”
Bagger also said recent research 'has shown that a 12 month period of loss of testosterone is not at all enough to mitigate the advantages gained by going through male puberty'.
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The pro-golfer also openly supports the Save Women’s Sports bill, which has been proposed by Liberal senator Claire Chandler and seeks to amend the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. If it were to go ahead, the legislation would give sporting bodies and organisations the right to lawfully exclude a trans person from competing ‘in any sporting activity intended for persons of a different sex’.
When asked why she favours a bill that would have previously excluded her from competing, Bagger echoed her statement above in another interview with news.com.au, saying: “These days, [the dynamic] has crept into what’s called self ID or self identification: male-bodied people presenting as women, who live as women, with varying degrees of medical intervention and in some degrees, no medical intervention, which is just – it’s crossed the line, in my view, it really has … It’s a slap in the face to women.”
She said that it was ‘really important’ to note how ‘the difference between general society and sport, particularly really high-level sport’, adding: “In every day society, of course we want an inclusive, egalitarian [society]. We want equality, lack of discrimination, and of course every single person should have equal access to life and services and work in society. Of course we all want that, and so do I.
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“In sport? It’s different. Sport is about physical ability. It’s not just about discrimination, it’s not just about equality and equal access. It is a physical ability.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence contact Mindline Trans+ on 0300 330 5468. The line is open 8pm–midnight Mondays and Fridays and is run by trans volunteers
Jess Hardiman