{"id":16893,"date":"2026-10-21T10:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T02:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=16893"},"modified":"2026-10-21T10:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T02:42:49","slug":"are-transgender-sports-bans-really-about-protecting-women-survey-data-tells-a-different-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/are-transgender-sports-bans-really-about-protecting-women-survey-data-tells-a-different-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Are transgender sports bans really about protecting women? Survey data tells a different\u00a0story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Seen
Bans on transgender athletes like sprinter Sadie Schreiner, center, are often framed as protecting women. Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu\/The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Relatively few transgender athletes participate in high school and collegiate sports. Still, since 2020, 27 states have passed laws banning them from participating in sports based on their gender identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just weeks after his second inauguration in 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in women\u2019s sports in K-12 schools, colleges and universities that receive federal funds. Supporters of these bans often argue that they protect women and girls from unfair or unsafe competition. As Trump said at the signing ceremony: \u201cwe will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WNBA star Sophie Cunningham offered a similar rationale in a July 2026 ESPN profile: \u201cI want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn\u2019t have to go against biological men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These statements suggest that those in favor of bans are motivated by their admiration for female athletes. But are Americans with more positive views of women and women\u2019s sports more likely to oppose transgender women competing in women\u2019s sports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are political scientists who study public opinion toward transgender Americans. To understand how attitudes about gender shape Americans\u2019 views on policies that adversely affect the rights of transgender Americans, we asked 1,000 American adults about their support for restricting the participation of transgender athletes in sports. We also asked about their feelings toward women as a group, their endorsement of sexist stereotypes and their attitudes toward policies that promote gender equity, such as Title IX, the law requiring schools that receive federal funding to provide women and girls with equal opportunities to participate in athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A transgender swimmer in Utah in 2021, before the state banned trans girls from girls teams. AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sexism and support for bans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our survey found significant public opposition to transgender athletes playing on teams that match their gender identity. When asked whether they \u201csupport or oppose a bill that prohibits transgender youth from joining school-sponsored sports teams that match their gender identity,\u201d about half of respondents supported the restriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But admiration and support for women do not translate into greater support for excluding transgender people. In fact, individuals with the most negative views of women and gender equality are the most likely to support these bans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked respondents to rate how they feel about women on a scale from 0 to 100. Researchers have used this tool, known as a feeling thermometer, for decades to measure how Americans feel about different groups, including people of color, gay and lesbian people and members of the opposite political party. Among respondents with the most positive views of women, 45% supported restricting transgender sports participation; among those with the most negative views of women, 58% supported restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also tested whether more sexist views predicted support for these bans. To measure sexism, we asked respondents how much they agreed or disagreed with three statements about women: \u201cWomen seek to gain power by getting control over men,\u201d \u201cWomen are too easily offended\u201d and \u201cWomen exaggerate problems they have at work.\u201d Social scientists commonly use these questions to measure \u201chostile sexism,\u201d a set of stereotypes in which women are portrayed as incapable, manipulative and controlling. Among the least sexist respondents, 28% supported banning transgender people from sports matching their gender identity; among the most sexist, 79% did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If admiration and support for female athletes drive support for prohibiting transgender women from participating in women\u2019s sports, then those who favor Title IX should also favor bans. Instead, 43% of Title IX supporters favored restrictions, compared with 70% of Title IX opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our findings \u2013 that negative attitudes toward women and opposition to Title IX predict support for banning transgender women from sports that match their gender identity \u2013 hold even after accounting for other factors like partisanship, ideology and demographic characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donald
President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women\u2019s or girls\u2019 sporting events, on Feb. 5, 2025. AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The protection argument<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The debate over transgender athletes is often framed as a matter of protecting women. Our findings complicate that narrative: People with the most negative attitudes toward women \u2013 and toward policies that protect women\u2019s sports \u2013 are the most supportive of banning transgender women from women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That does not mean that everyone who supports a ban is motivated by hostility toward women. But the consistency of these findings makes it difficult to accept that protecting women is a primary reason why Americans support these restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Tatishe Nteta<\/a>, Provost Professor of Political Science, UMass Amherst<\/a><\/em>; Jesse Rhodes<\/a>, Associate Professor of Political Science, UMass Amherst<\/a><\/em>, and Lane Cuthbert<\/a>, Doctoral candidate, UMass Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relatively few transgender athletes participate in high school and collegiate sports. Still, since 2020, 27 states have passed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[360],"class_list":["post-16893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","tag-lgbtq"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t