March 31, 2026
The IOC recently announced that athletes who benefit from male physiological advantage will no longer be permitted to compete in the female category. Predictably, this has led to some push-back from those who believe that inclusion is the highest good in sport – rather than fairness (or safety). We will discuss a few of their objections.
Equality
Paula Gerber, an international human...
The strongest version of this narrative centers on the principle of fairness in sports, arguing that biological differences between males and females necessitate distinct categories to ensure competitive integrity. The authors effectively steelman their position by grounding it in Aristotelian justice—the idea that like cases should be treated alike, and unlike cases differently. They also clarify that discrimination in this context is not arbitrary but based on relevant physiological difference...