Fallon Fox has explained why some arguments made against transgender women competing against cisgender women in sports are “bogus”.
Fox was assigned the male gender at birth before later transitioning to become a woman. In 2012 she began a career in MMA and controversially scored two knockout wins before revealing her gender identity to the world.
The 45-year-old divided opinion with some prominent figures in MMA, most notably Joe Rogan, campaigning against trans women being allowed to fight cisgender women.
Fox retired from the sport in 2014 following stints with CFA and KOTC. She finished with a 5-1 record as a professional and is largely regarded as the main voice in the discussion surrounding transgender athlete’s competing in sports.
Fox recently spoke with ET Canada in an interview previewing her upcoming film. During the chat with Shakiel Mahjouri the transgender advocate explained why it’s not fair to exclude trans woman from sports.
“People like to ask me about the science behind trans athletes, and I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not like I’m pulling all this stuff out of thin air,” Fox said. “Nowhere in the tale of the tape is bone density ever introduced. Right? Nobody ever talks about bone density.”
“There are bone density differences between men also and in women also. For instance. African-American women have more dense bones than Caucasian women do,” Fox added. “I don’t see anyone saying that we shouldn’t have African-American women competing against cisgender women.”
“Most of the time to have more dense bones than cisgender white men do. We never talk about this and I think it’s just bogus for them to even bring up bone density in the first place. Things like that that people just bring out of thin air and just say are true, that [is what] we’re fighting against.”
Fox is ready to debate the topic but doesn’t think the MMA community is willing to have a reasonable discussion about the inclusion of transgender athletes.
“I don’t think the world of MMA is ready to have an intelligent conversation about transgender athletes, but I’m willing to have that conversation and I’m always willing to stand up,” Fox said.
Do you agree with Fallon Fox? Should transgender women be allowed to fight cisgender women?