Taking a stand by standing down

It was four years ago that Paul Pilkington looked ahead and foresaw what he believed was the only way to challenge the presence of biological males in women’s sports.
“It’s going to have to come from the women or from someone who sues the NCAA to force them to at least adopt changes that have been made by the other governing bodies,” said Pilkington, the women’s cross-country coach at Weber State. He also said that female athletes would have to sacrifice by simply refusing to compete. “Go to the starting line and when the gun goes off, just stand there,” he said.
In recent weeks, all of the above has unfolded — the lawsuit, the refusal to compete and women leading the way. Four collegiate volleyball teams (and counting?) have refused to play their matches against San Jose State this fall because the Spartans’ lineup includes biological male, Blaire Fleming, a 6-foot-1 redshirt junior with a blistering spike that scares even her own teammates. Boise State, Wyoming, Southern Utah and Utah State all chose to forfeit rather than play against the Spartans and Fleming.
It was a drastic measure, but what else could they do when the government, media, the NCAA, and universities are arrayed against them? Their complaints have been ignored, so some have chosen not to compete. They can’t be compelled to do otherwise. Nobody can force them to play.
The forfeiting schools chose not to make a statement about their reasons; they simply backed away from the match and went on their way. Not San Jose State, which released this statement:
“It is disappointing that our SJSU student-athletes, who are in full compliance with NCAA and Mountain West rules and regulations, are being denied opportunities to compete. We are committed to supporting our student-athletes through these challenges and in their ability to compete in an inclusive, fair, safe and respectful environment.”
That’s a lot to unpack. Yes, the NCAA and Mountain West Conference have paved the way for male-to-female (MTF) trans athletes to compete against women, which, again, is exactly why female athletes, previously impotent, have taken matters into their own hands.
Now let’s look at the second part of that SJS statement. Does a university’s commitment to an “inclusive, fair, safe and respectful environment” take into account a “safe,” “fair” and “respectful” environment for women?”
Brooke Slusser, Fleming’s own teammate and an SJSU co-captain, recently became one of 18 athletes to join a lawsuit filed by anti-trans rights activist Riley Gaines against the NCAA for its transgender policies.
The complaint reads, “Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball. The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
As usual, the media threw gas on the fire, mixing inflammatory commentary into what is supposed to be objective reporting. Headline in the San Francisco Chronicle: “4 teams forfeit matches with Bay Area college amid transphobic legal mess.”
Transphobic?
Alternative headline: “4 teams forfeit matches to take a stand for women’s rights and safety.”
The empirical evidence is overwhelming when it comes to comparing male and female athletes; just look at any objectively quantifiable athletic contest (track, swimming) and it’s not even close. Which is why women’s sports were created in the first place, along with Title IX. As reported in a 2021 Deseret News investigative report about MTFs in women’s sport. “The separation of the sexes is compromised and biological men could potentially deny women of opportunities they were denied at every level of sport for decades until the passage of Title IX in the ′70s — scholarships, roster spots, contracts, prize money, medals — if not put them at increased risk of injury …”
Some sports have responded accordingly. World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, announced last year that transgender women who went through male puberty can no longer compete in women’s events at international competitions.
As Pilkington once observed of the MTF challenge in women’s sports, “It really hurts women’s athletics. It’s not fair. They have all these rules to keep a level playing field — drug testing and so on — but in this case, they turn a blind eye to it.”