One of the core arguments given by the trans lobby in support of "trans women" in women's sport, is that there are no real differences between trans women and cisgender woman, as it all is a social construction. That moderate level sportspersons, as males, can when becoming trans women, leap to the top, is just a coincidence. Perhaps the success is due to the psychological motivation to overcome prejudice and succeed? An article in the Harvard Crimson by Jonathan G. Yuan., "There Are Many Obstacles Facing Women's Sports. Trans Athletes Aren't One:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/4/16/editorial-obstacles-trans-womens-sports/
argues that when testosterone is suppressed "testosterone levels of transgender women after 12 months of hormone therapy resemble those of their cisgender counterparts, while their muscle strength either decreases or remains unchanged after a year of treatment." However, if strength levels do remain the same, that is a problem for this view immediately. In general, studies of male athletes coming off steroids show strength decreases, but not to the extent of a return to "normal" before steroid use. Thus, the male athlete who transitions, when taking female hormones will still have a physiological advantage due to previous male levels of testosterone.
As well, there are advantages males have such as increased lung size, and physical size as well, which is seen when the trans women athletes lined up next to the cisgender females to collect first place. In the end, it will be either the acceptance of woke, or women's sports.
"The leftists at the Harvard Crimson have spoken out against transgender athlete bans and claimed that the evidence to support the case that men have a physical advantage over women is "less conclusive."
However, in the process of making the assertion, the article ignored all evidence to the contrary to support their own claim that transgender athlete participation is wholly benign.
In the college paper's April 16 editorial, entitled, There Are Many Obstacles Facing Women's Sports. Trans Athletes Aren't One, writer Jonathan G. Yuan writes for The Crimson Editorial Board that the "science" is "less conclusive" that "transgender women hold a biological edge over their cisgender opponents."
The science-free citation of using the political term "cisgender" aside, Yuan goes on to insist that "science" proves that men who take female hormones to "transition" lose their male strength.
"According to the National Institute of Health, testosterone levels of transgender women after 12 months of hormone therapy resemble those of their cisgender counterparts, while their muscle strength either decreases or remains unchanged after a year of treatment," Yuan wrote.
He then sallies forth as if that was all the evidence anyone has ever presented to show that "transgender women" are on an equal playing field with women. He goes on to ignore any other study that might tend to show that the male body — testosterone level aside — has an inherent advantage over the female body in size, reach, lung capacity, and other metrics. He ignores these studies as if they never existed and dismissing them all with a curt "studies measuring athletic aptitude among trans individuals contradict each other, and many are limited by their small sample sizes and lack of comparative groups."
But testosterone alone is far from the only difference between men and women where it affects sports, and many studies have found this out.
Emma N. Hilton and Tommy R. Lundberg, for instance, published a study in Sports Medicine that found, "current evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes."
The authors of that study go on to say that transgender "women" have between a 10 and 50 percent advantage over women in sports, regardless of testosterone levels.
A similar study by Timothy A Roberts, Joshua Smalley, and Dale Ahrendt, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that men who transition to women maintain some of their physical advantages over women despite all the medical tomfoolery of their "transition."
Yet another study finds that muscle strength, size, and composition are still stronger in transgender women for at least a year after gender-affirming treatment."