School districts across the state are discussing implementation plans for a piece of legislation signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt this spring for the 2022-2023 school year.
SB2, the Save Women’s Sports Act, was signed into law on March 30, 2022. The bill protects women’s sports by allowing only biological females to compete in female athletics at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels.
The bill states, “athletic teams designed for “females,” “women” or “girls” shall not be open to students of the male sex.” The bill requires that “prior to the beginning of each school year, the parent or legal guardian of a student who competes on a school athletic team shall sign an affidavit acknowledging the biological sex of the student at birth.” A student 18 or older may sign the affidavit themselves.
While the bill was signed into law several months ago, the section requiring an affidavit signature will take effect for the first time during the 2022-2023 school year. The Save Women’s Sports Act will allow females to continue competing in athletics at the highest level.
Males are biologically different from women and have a physical advantage competing in athletics. Men have larger hearts, a higher cardiac output, a higher VO2 max (the ability to take in oxygen), higher anaerobic capacity, larger bones, and leaner muscle mass. They also have higher testosterone levels. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Although testosterone exists and functions similarly in women and men, men have markedly higher average testosterone than women. This difference in testosterone is widely presumed to be a sex difference, that is, one that reflects maleness and femaleness caused by innate and evolved influences.” According to The Mayo Clinic, the anabolic effects of testosterone promote muscle building, a clear advantage in competitive physical activity.
In fact, the Olympic Committee, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and the World Anti-Doping Agency ban anabolic steroids containing testosterone because of the physical advantage the steroid hormone can allow. Higher natural levels of testosterone in males is a large component of the performance gap between males and females in athletics.
According to Duke University Law, “there is an average 10-12% performance gap between elite males and elite females.” A study conducted by Doriane Lambelet Coleman and Wickliffe Shreve at Duke University Law found that U.S. and Olympic track legend Allyson Felix’s 400 meters lifetime best of 49.26 was beaten by men and boys around the world over 15,000 times in the year 2017 alone.
To further compare 400-meter race times, the women’s world record stands at 47.60 seconds by Marita Koch, while the men’s world record stands at 43.03 seconds, more than a four-second gap in a short distance race.
In a study by Plos One in 2020 in national Olympic weightlifting competitions, Marianne Huebner and Aris Perperoglou found that males and females performed similarly at a young age. Around the ages associated with puberty (and increased levels of testosterone in males), male performance significantly increased and caused the gap to widen between male and female athletic performance.
Females are not able to effectively compete in athletics with males. However, female athletes are as important as male athletes, and allowing them to compete against individuals with the same biological make-up will allow them to compete in athletics on the biggest stage. Years of hard work, training, and sacrificed time would go down the drain at the allowance of biological males competing in female athletics. The Save Women’s Sports Act will allow females in Oklahoma to continue fairly competing in athletics at the highest level. By signing this bill into law, Oklahoma is prioritizing the opportunities for females in athletics and championing their success as competitive athletes.
By Ryan Ackerman
