by Lauren Farrell
I have always tried to follow a “live and let live” philosophy. That meant as long as someone isn’t harming anyone else in any way, it was none of my business and people should be allowed to do what they want and be who they are. I draw the line, however, when those choices intrude on someone else’s life. And what these days we are instructed to call transgender “acceptance” often does.
In 2019, I explained how, after receiving a diagnosis specific to women in 2018, I joined what I thought was an exclusively female support group online. For months this group was a salve to my soul at a low point in my life. That was until our group was infiltrated by a biologically born male who urged the administrators to make inclusive changes for him. Because of one person, our group rules were changed from feminine terms to gender-neutral, and in order to continue participating in the group, we had to conform to the new rules of inclusivity.
It felt like such a violation of privacy to share intimate, personal experiences with others knowing that there was a man with unknown intentions in our group. I took my exit knowing that the administrators were not standing by me and the other women who held my frustrations.
That was three years ago and with the recent news from the University of Pennsylvania’s transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, being crowned the winner of the NCAA Division I title and stripping females of their rightful opportunity to compete in a fair race, I can see us headed farther down a path from which we cannot return.
This is the line. This is when a choice to live your life the way you want interferes with others in a negative way and cannot and should not be tolerated. It isn’t “transphobic” to notice this. This isn’t bigoted. This is something the vast majority of people using common sense know and understand as we watch a tiny minority of people flush thousands of years of biology and anatomy down the toilet and label it the “new normal” and demand we “get used to it.” We don’t have to.
I have never considered myself a feminist of the sort that blathers on about “toxic masculinity” or is simply anti-male. I don’t believe you lift women up by tearing men down. But I feel a strong feminine urge to protect me and mine when I see so many hard-earned victories being taken from females and given to biological males—whether it’s Lia Thomas in the sport of swimming, Caitlyn Jenner being named “woman of the year,” or Kataluna Enriquez who won Miss Nevada last year.
I couldn’t help but notice, however, that present-day feminists are largely silent as biologically born men are adding up in women’s sports, continuing to take win after win away from females, even to the point of serious injuries being incurred by female competitors. What happened to all of these movements for encouraging and empowering women? Were they all just fake? Could it be that most of these groups or movements are run by people who actually couldn’t care less about women? I think yes. If these groups really cared about women they would be outraged that biological men are being lumped in with women and we are calling it “fair.”
This is an outright slap in the face both to the women of today and to the true trailblazing women of the past. This takes the suffering and strife they have endured and strips it of any dignity. It sets women back years and reinforces the old simplistic prejudice of the past that women can’t measure up to men if they are not identical. If women are to compete against men, what is the point? Lia Thomas ranked 554th in the men’s division and is now picking up win after win in the female’s division with ease.
And if the case of Lia Thomas hasn’t stirred up enough dust between women, a professor of women’s studies from Purdue University wrote an article comparing Thomas to Jackie Robinson.
Masculine men would rather compete against men, not women. They see no rhyme or reason in competing against women and therefore take nothing away from them. This order of things allows each sex its separate space for fair competition, the way it should be.
Women with more assertive or aggressive personalities than average buck the traditional understanding of women as the softer sex and the expectation that they be more accommodating and agreeable. As a result, many are labeled with disagreeable names and many more will ignore gut feelings about bad situations for fear of seeming “rude.” So it’s not surprising that so many women, though secretly unhappy with it, are quiet when it comes to letting men compete in women’s sports. Women are being told to just accept men into their sports, allow them to steal opportunities, and congratulate them on their wins. If they don’t, they are called bigots and transphobic. It’s gaslighting, really.
Looking at females in the animal kingdom we see that the lioness, for example, is assertive or aggressive when she needs to be to protect herself or others. She knows there is a time to be soft and a time to be strong. She realizes when there is a threat. If there is one thing I want women to take away from this it is to realize that while you can’t control what people call you or someone downplaying your valid feelings, you do have control over the way you choose to fight for yourself and those you love.
It’s obvious that the administrators who make the rules do not care about how hard you’ve worked and it’s even more obvious that those in Washington only wish to further a deranged agenda given the executive order Joe Biden put in place on day one. This order unequivocally protects transgender athletes, while it abandons the opinions and feelings of females whose blood, sweat, and tears are being trashed for the sake of inclusivity.
Women, find your voice, find the strength to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.” Some men are actively trying to steal our identity as women and it’s OK to notice it and speak out against it.
The only way this ends is when women say it does.
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Lauren Farrell is the development coordinator for American Majority. A self-proclaimed political junkie, she has loved politics since she was a child. She resides in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with her fiancé and three dogs.
