I won’t go into more than has been written on this site on the subject of Fallon Fox, the first openly transgender MMA fighter, who was born a man and then underwent (and continues to undergo) hormone treatments and surgery to change her sex, but you definitely need to watch the video above.
AXS TV Fights recently interviewed Fox. During that conversation, Fox was asked if she felt she had an advantage over her opponents in Women’s MMA who were, you know, born women. Fallon went further than saying that she and her opponents were equally matched — she assured that she was, in fact, at a disadvantage.
If I know anything about the CagePotato audience, you probably stopped reading right there, so I will see you and your outrage in the comments section.
No, really. She said that.
I won’t go into more than has been written on this site on the subject of Fallon Fox, the first openly transgender MMA fighter, who was born a man and then underwent (and continues to undergo) hormone treatments and surgery to change her sex, but you definitely need to watch the video above.
AXS TV Fights recently interviewed Fox. During that conversation, Fox was asked if she felt she had an advantage over her opponents in Women’s MMA who were, you know, born women. Fallon went further than saying that she and her opponents were equally matched — she assured that she was, in fact, at a disadvantage.
If I know anything about the CagePotato audience, you probably stopped reading right there, so I will see you and your outrage in the comments section.
Should you decide to keep reading, however, you should know that that claim wasn’t specifically followed up on or supported, per se, but AXS did bring a medical doctor on the show to discuss Fox and others that undergo similar treatments and surgeries. It is fascinating to learn that at least some medical minds maintain with absolute certainty that someone like Fox not only will have about the same or less amount of testosterone in her system than the women she fights, but also that her very bone structure and muscle mass should also be about the same as theirs.
Things like bone density and muscle mass have been some of the main criticisms of Fox being allowed to compete against fighters born as women so it is noteworthy that critics’ taken-for-granted “facts” are at least quite open to debate.
What do you think, Nation? Is Fox pushing it a bit saying that she’s at a disadvantage? OR HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY?!
(Not pictured: Anything Fallon Fox has actually done in the cage.)
Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: I’m not trying to say that it wasn’t newsworthy — even inspirational — when Fallon Foxfirst came out as a transgender MMA fighter. Transgender individuals are extremely prone to harassment, discrimination, violence and bigoted stereotyping — all tragically evident by looking at the Facebook posts and tweets that have been directed at Fox since she came out roughly one month ago. I am in full support of her rights to be socially acknowledged and treated as any other woman would be treated outside of the cage.
Yet during this past month, Fallon Fox has received more attention for simply existing (she’s 0-0 since coming out) than most professionals have received for actually fighting. We’ve seen numerous fighters come forward to offer their opinions on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women. Some have managed to do so in a reasonable, intelligent manner. Others have spoken about “it” as if she isn’t even human. For that matter, even people who aren’t MMA fighters have expressed a willingness to compete against her.
Mind you, this was all before Matt Mitrione called Fox “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” earning him an indefinite suspension from the UFC.
Despite the punishment, UFC fighters are still willing to discuss Fallon Fox — who, let’s remember, doesn’t even fight in the UFC — with reporters. Yesterday, The New York Post published an interview with one of the most talented, popular, and accomplished female fighters of all time, Ronda Rousey. A total of zero questions had anything to do with Rousey’s own future in the sport, instead focusing on how she feels about potentially fighting Fallon Fox:
“She can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey told The Post. “It’s an advantage. I don’t think it’s fair.”
(Not pictured: Anything Fallon Fox has actually done in the cage.)
Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: I’m not trying to say that it wasn’t newsworthy — even inspirational — when Fallon Foxfirst came out as a transgender MMA fighter. Transgender individuals are extremely prone to harassment, discrimination, violence and bigoted stereotyping — all tragically evident by looking at the Facebook posts and tweets that have been directed at Fox since she came out roughly one month ago. I am in full support of her rights to be socially acknowledged and treated as any other woman would be treated outside of the cage.
Yet during this past month, Fallon Fox has received more attention for simply existing (she’s 0-0 since coming out) than most professionals have received for actually fighting. We’ve seen numerous fighters come forward to offer their opinions on whether or not Fox should be allowed to compete against women. Some have managed to do so in a reasonable, intelligent manner. Others have spoken about “it” as if she isn’t even human. For that matter, even people who aren’t MMA fighters have expressed a willingness to compete against her.
Mind you, this was all before Matt Mitrione called Fox “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour,” earning him an indefinite suspension from the UFC.
Despite the punishment, UFC fighters are still willing to discuss Fallon Fox — who, let’s remember, doesn’t even fight in the UFC — with reporters. Yesterday, The New York Post published an interview with one of the most talented, popular, and accomplished female fighters of all time, Ronda Rousey. A total of zero questions had anything to do with Rousey’s own future in the sport, instead focusing on how she feels about potentially fighting Fallon Fox:
“She can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey told The Post. “It’s an advantage. I don’t think it’s fair.”
Rousey said Mitrione worded his views “extremely poorly” and believes the UFC was justified in suspending the heavyweight fighter. But she thinks his sentiments came from the right place. In Rousey’s opinion, Mitrione believes Fox is still a man, who wants to beat up women for a living.
“I understand the UFC doesn’t want to be associated with views like that,” Rousey said. “I’m also glad they didn’t straight cut him.”
Speaking of questionable word choices, I can’t help but feel that her usage of the word “pecker” is going to create an overreaction among the mainstream media outlets. But I digress.
It’s right around now — when accomplished athletes such as Ronda Rousey and Alexis Davis are fielding questions about Fallon Fox instead of their own careers — that we in the MMA media need to stop and ask ourselves what we’re actually doing. Are we really respecting a woman’s right to be treated as any other female, or are we treating Fallon Fox like a sideshow and milking her transgender status for as many page views as we can get?
Because — let’s be honest — if we’re truly concerned with treating Fallon Fox the way that we’d treat any other woman, we wouldn’t continue to force her name into interviews and conference calls. As Jonathan Snowden recently argued, Fox is a thirty-seven year old fighter competing in a small-time, regional promotion that even most hardcore MMA fans wouldn’t recognize. She is 2-0 in her professional career, but has yet to fight an opponent who has actually won a professional bout. She has not been offered a contract by the UFC, Invicta, or Bellator. This is all to say that she hasn’t accomplished anything yet that justifies the non-stop media attention that she has received for the past month.
Giving Fox undue attention over her transgender status isn’t embracing her so much as it’s exploiting her. Forcing her into conversations with UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez isn’t being tolerant, it’s being a carnival barker — we’re emphasizing what makes her different in hopes of generating reactions from other people. Emphasizing her reputation over her skills and accomplishments wades into Kimbo Slice territory; that’s bound to make the fans’ reactions that much more harsh when she actually loses. Also, when former UFC heavyweight Sean McCorkle starts looking for ways to involve himself in this story by taking credit for Mitrione’s suspension-earning jokes, it’s safe to say that we’re no longer coming from a place of acceptance.
This doesn’t mean it’s wrong to make the distinction between Fallon Fox the woman and Fallon Fox the fighter. As of now, there is no conclusive evidence that transgender females do not have unfair competitive advantages over their opponents. There is research that suggests that unfair advantages exist. There is also research that suggests they do not. Another “MMA fighter says Fox has/doesn’t have a competitive advantage” article isn’t going to bring anything new to the discussion.
But you know what will bring something new to the discussion? The result of her fight against Allana Jones on May 24th. After that we might be able to gauge what kind of future — if any — she has in our sport. We’ll be able to publish a story about Fox that’s actually pertinent to what she has been doing in the cage. And if we’re truly concerned with treating her as an equal, we can hold off on cramming her into our headlines until then.
In either case, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled earlier today that there was insufficient evidence to declare that Fox had committed any fraudulent activities prior to her last bout in Florida. A quick recap of what went down: While applying for a fight license in Florida, Fox claimed that she had already received a license in California, when in reality she had only applied for a license and received a receipt she mistook for a license in return.
Clearly excited, Fox spoke with Outsports about the decision:
In either case, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled earlier today that there was insufficient evidence to declare that Fox had committed any fraudulent activities prior to her last bout in Florida. A quick recap of what went down: While applying for a fight license in Florida, Fox claimed that she had already received a license in California, when in reality she had only applied for a license and received a receipt she mistook for a license in return.
Clearly excited, Fox spoke with Outsports about the decision:
It makes me feel vindicated. I feel very happy that they came to the right conclusion. I wasn’t too doubtful that they would. I was pretty sure they would look into it and realize I wasn’t trying to deceive them with what I thought was a license.
Of course, Fox’s California licensing mistake wasn’t exactly the key issue at the forefront of her case, but I digress. Fox is now scheduled to face Allana Jones at CFA 11 on May 24th, so we’ll just have to wait and see what inevitable controversy evolves out of that fight and go from there.
With all of the controversy surrounding the career of transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, it should come as little surprise that reporters have been asking athletes — regardless of their sexes — for their take on whether or not she should be allowed to fight. The latest fighter to voice his opinion on the controversial competitor is none other than UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who isn’t as open to the idea of allowing Fox to fight against other women as some of us are.
Like many people, Velasquez believes that Fox holds an unfair advantage over her competition, and should only be allowed to fight other transgender athletes. Via MMAFighting:
“I don’t think she should be able to fight women,” Velasquez flatly responded when asked about Fox at a recent media luncheon.
“Having the same bone structure and everything else as a man, I think definitely does give her an advantage.”
“Maybe have a separate [division], I guess,” the UFC heavyweight champion finished. “I don’t know. But I don’t think that’s fair.”
Even though the champion’s comments don’t exactly bring any new ideas to the discussion, they’re interesting due to their timing. Over the course of the past week, Fox has seen one opponent withdraw from an upcoming CFA featherweight tournament bout against her, and her proposed replacement opponent holding off on signing the bout agreement. Her initial semifinal adversary — a 6’1” female named Peggy “The Daywalker” Morgan — has made it very clear that she backed out under the belief that she is at an unfair disadvantage. After discussing her decision on Inside MMA, she has since released a follow-up statement through Relentless Sports Marketing, which includes the following passage:
With all of the controversy surrounding the career of transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, it should come as little surprise that reporters have been asking athletes — regardless of their sexes — for their take on whether or not she should be allowed to fight. The latest fighter to voice his opinion on the controversial competitor is none other than UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who isn’t as open to the idea of allowing Fox to fight against other women as some of us are.
Like many people, Velasquez believes that Fox holds an unfair advantage over her competition, and should only be allowed to fight other transgender athletes. Via MMAFighting:
“I don’t think she should be able to fight women,” Velasquez flatly responded when asked about Fox at a recent media luncheon.
“Having the same bone structure and everything else as a man, I think definitely does give her an advantage.”
“Maybe have a separate [division], I guess,” the UFC heavyweight champion finished. “I don’t know. But I don’t think that’s fair.”
Even though the champion’s comments don’t exactly bring any new ideas to the discussion, they’re interesting due to their timing. Over the course of the past week, Fox has seen one opponent withdraw from an upcoming CFA featherweight tournament bout against her, and her proposed replacement opponent holding off on signing the bout agreement. Her initial semifinal adversary — a 6’1” female named Peggy “The Daywalker” Morgan — has made it very clear that she backed out under the belief that she is at an unfair disadvantage. After discussing her decision on Inside MMA, she has since released a follow-up statement through Relentless Sports Marketing, which includes the following passage:
[Fallon Fox] claims that any woman who refuses to fight her is really just scared. This is absolutely delusional.Before the news of Fallon’s sexual reassignment broke, I remember watching her warm up for her March 2nd fight and wondering how she’d finished all her opponents so quickly. I mean, she looked okay, but she definitely didn’t display the sort of technical mastery she claims to possess.
Ultimately, I do not think there is sufficient hard evidence to show that Fallon does not have physical advantages over the women she has fought. I understand why people are advocating for Fallon and I appreciate that it is important to protect her rights, but I think it should be just as important to protect the safety of the other women in the tournament. Until I am presented with conclusive evidence that a fight with Fallon would, in fact, be fair, I will not be entering the cage with her.
For those of you who don’t know, Fallon Fox happens to be a female fighter who was born a man. As you can probably infer from that sentence, there’s been a little controversy since then. Most recently, UFC announcer, professional comedian and…uh, podcaster (is that a thing?) Joe Rogan went on a rant about Fox. Rogan can be abrasive, but he’s an entertaining figure in the sport and generally inquisitive enough to question established narratives. He’s also subject to conspiratorial fancies from time to time, but no one’s ever claimed Rogan’s entirely sound of mind. But given his enthusiasm for the bizarre and his overall tolerance of homosexuality, his recent comments about this situation were rather disappointing. Let’s go through them piece by piece…
“She calls herself a woman but… I tend to disagree. And, uh, she, um… she used to be a man but now she has had, she’s a transgender which is (the) official term that means you’ve gone through it, right? And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no fucking way. I say if you had a dick at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a dick. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a fucking man. That’s a man, OK? You can’t have… that’s… I don’t care if you don’t have a dick any more…”
First off — Rogan’s simply incorrect here. If you’ve been on hormones for as long as Fox has, your bone structure does change. And while the hands of Fox might never be the same size as Kim Kardashian’s, that doesn’t matter. There’s a spectrum of physical discrepancy across female athletes, and the question isn’t whether Fox’s physique is larger than most, but whether it fits into that established paradigm. In this case, she does. But more than this, the problem with Rogan’s statements is his tone…
“You can’t fight women. That’s fucking crazy. I don’t know why she thinks that she’s going to be able to do that. If you want to be a woman in the bedroom and you know you want to play house and all of that other shit and you feel like you have, your body is really a woman’s body trapped inside a man’s frame and so you got a operation, that’s all good in the hood. But you can’t fight chicks. Get the fuck out of here. You’re out of your mind. You need to fight men, you know? Period. You need to fight men your size because you’re a man. You’re a man without a dick.
For those of you who don’t know, Fallon Fox happens to be a female fighter who was born a man. As you can probably infer from that sentence, there’s been a little controversy since then. Most recently, UFC announcer, professional comedian and…uh, podcaster (is that a thing?) Joe Rogan went on a rant about Fox. Rogan can be abrasive, but he’s an entertaining figure in the sport and generally inquisitive enough to question established narratives. He’s also subject to conspiratorial fancies from time to time, but no one’s ever claimed Rogan’s entirely sound of mind. But given his enthusiasm for the bizarre and his overall tolerance of homosexuality, his recent comments about this situation were rather disappointing. Let’s go through them piece by piece…
“She calls herself a woman but… I tend to disagree. And, uh, she, um… she used to be a man but now she has had, she’s a transgender which is (the) official term that means you’ve gone through it, right? And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no fucking way. I say if you had a dick at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a dick. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a fucking man. That’s a man, OK? You can’t have… that’s… I don’t care if you don’t have a dick any more…”
First off — Rogan’s simply incorrect here. If you’ve been on hormones for as long as Fox has, your bone structure does change. And while the hands of Fox might never be the same size as Kim Kardashian’s, that doesn’t matter. There’s a spectrum of physical discrepancy across female athletes, and the question isn’t whether Fox’s physique is larger than most, but whether it fits into that established paradigm. In this case, she does. But more than this, the problem with Rogan’s statements is his tone…
“You can’t fight women. That’s fucking crazy. I don’t know why she thinks that she’s going to be able to do that. If you want to be a woman in the bedroom and you know you want to play house and all of that other shit and you feel like you have, your body is really a woman’s body trapped inside a man’s frame and so you got a operation, that’s all good in the hood. But you can’t fight chicks. Get the fuck out of here. You’re out of your mind. You need to fight men, you know? Period. You need to fight men your size because you’re a man. You’re a man without a dick.
I’m looking at a man with a dress, OK? And you don’t… you can act as a woman, I will call you a ‘her,’ I will, uh, call you ma’am. I’ll be respectful but you can’t fight women when you have a man’s frame. PERIOD. Women aren’t that wide, that generates to increased punching power. Women don’t have that sort of muscle structure. I don’t know what you’re doing, I don’t know, you mean obviously if you’re transoperational it means you removed your testicles so your body’s not producing testosterone any more. I don’t know if you’re supplementing testosterone. If your body’s not producing testosterone, why are your arms so big? What’s going on here? There’s a lot of shit going on there and you can’t fight women. No fucking way.”
I can empathize with the general uneasiness people feel about transgender operations; it’s a new technology that completely alters the way people approach sexuality. To many people, it’s unnatural, which implicitly means it’s bad. But ultimately, Rogan’s comments are the same crap you heard about blacks marrying whites in the 60’s, and gays in the 70’s. (And 80’s, and 90’s, and even still today.) Just because something makes you uncomfortable doesn’t mean you’re justified in disparaging it. Fallon Fox — by most forms of biometric data we have available — is a woman, not a man. Period. As technology has advanced, the differences between post-op transsexuals and their counterparts has gradually diminished. Rogan isn’t obligated to acknowledge this, much like you’re not obligated to acknowledge the theory of evolution. But he comes off as an uneducated buffoon as a result. And, again, his assertion that Fox’s muscle structure and bones have retained their masculine characteristics has no evidence to support it.
“She’s won two fights by brutal knockout. So, she’s fighting women. … There’s a variety of small companies that, um, that are willing to allow a person like this to fight. I say it’s fucked up. You can’t fight women! You can’t. And just to look at her record, she’s crushed two women inside the first round. I mean, she’s crushing these girls…”
Those two fights she’s won? Her first opponent is 0-3. Her last opponent, whom Fox knocked out in 39 seconds? She’s 0-2, and got knocked out in 36 seconds — 3 seconds less — in her first professional fight. So perhaps this isn’t a case of Fallon Fox having an advantage because she was born a man and more of having an advantage because her opposition was terrible.
“Look, she’s huge! She’s not just huge, she’s got a fucking man’s face. I mean, you can wear all the lipstick you want. You want to be a woman and you want to take female hormones, you want to get a boob job, that’s all fine. I support your life to live, your right to live as a woman. Fight guys, yes. She has to fight guys. First of all, she’s not really a she. She’s a transgender, post-op person. The operation doesn’t shave down your bone density. It doesn’t change. You look at a man’s hands and you look at a women’s hands and they’re built different. They’re just thicker, they’re stronger, your wrists are thicker, your elbows are thicker, your joints are thicker. Just the mechanical function of punching, a man can do it much harder than a woman can.”
Fallon Fox is not “huge.” She’s no bigger than her opposition. Moreover, it’s not like size discrepancies are an issue in MMA; Anthony Johnson competed at welterweight, remember that? And it didn’t matter if he towered over the likes of Dan Hardy or Charlie Brenneman because he made the cut. (Well, sometimes.) But beyond this point, Rogan’s just resorting to his previous, incorrect talking points, and dismissing the validity of Fox’s gender. I’m not sure how he wraps his head around acknowledging Fox can live as a woman, but isn’t a “she.”
“I support, 100%, anyone’s right to be transgender. This is not where it lies with me, like I’m not a prejudiced person.”
“I don’t know what you feel in your body. If you really are a woman trapped in a man’s body, I support your right to do whatever you want to do. Go for it. If that’s what makes you happy, I would not try to stop that at all and I support it 100%. The real issue comes with violent competition with women and the reality of the physical structure of your body. The reality of the physical structure is not fair. You can’t say that a 145 pound woman and a 145 pound man are even. That’s like saying, you know, a 30-pound poodle and a 30-pound Pitbull are just two dogs — because they’re not. One of them has distributed its mass in quite a different way. It’s built for quite a different purpose and men are built for smashing shit.”
Totally agreed. And if Rogan had communicated like this throughout his argument, this would be a much more nuanced, legitimate discourse. But Rogan’s missing the point; Fallon Fox isn’t a man anymore.
“Women are built for getting held down by the stronger male monkey and, you know, women are built for carrying babies and doing work and whatever other non-hyperexplosive physical things you would want to do with your body. But they’re not built for hyperexplosive physical violence, they’re just not. They have more dainty frames, their hands are smaller. And even if they are big, they’re not big like a big man is. It’s not fair. I’m not trying to discriminate against women in any way, shape, or form and I’m a big supporter of women’s fighting. I loved watching that Ronda Rousey/Liz Carmouche fight. But those are actual women. Those are actual women. And as strong as Ronda Rousey looks, she still looks to me like a pretty girl. She’s a beautiful girl who happens to be strong. She’s a girl! [Fallon Fox] is not a girl, OK? This is a transgender woman. It’s a totally different specification.”
I’m not going to touch “women are built for getting held down by the stronger male monkey.” But really, “those are actual women”? Is Rogan’s qualification for a being an “actual” woman that “she still looks to [him] like a pretty girl”? That’s misogynist bullshit. Fallon Fox is a transsexual who became a woman through a surgical procedure and years of hormone therapy, it’s true. But that’s irrelevant; what matters is if her physical “specification” falls within the accepted paradigm of female athlete physiology. The evidence available to us says she does.
“How about some crazy dude who wants to beat the fuck out of chicks, so he gets his dick chopped off? I mean, that’s not outside the realm of possibility.”
Actually, it is.
“There’s a lot of suicidal fucks out there. There’s a lot of people that are like on the edge anyway. Like getting your dick chopped off, you know you’re going to pay attention to me? OK, I’ll chop my dick off, I’ll be a girl for a while. There’s people out there that are fucking crazy and you can’t let them fight girls. You just can’t. So, if this chick fights on Indian land I guess they could do whatever you want. I don’t see the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowing a woman to fight a man, though. … I don’t agree with the (Florida) athletic commission letting this happen. I don’t know. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why anybody would ever allow it. When it comes to competitive athletics, that’s where you got to draw the line.”
Rogan claims to be completely supportive of transgendered individuals, and then compares them to suicidal self-castrators who harbor a compulsion to beat women, and will self-mutilate themselves to get the right to do. It’s absurdity born of willful ignorance and bigotry, which sums up what this entire rant amounts to.
Look, this isn’t a black and white case. What evidence has been afforded to us on this subject indicates that trans athletes compete on a level playing field, but this evidence is unfortunately in short supply. As Rosi Sexton argues, there are legitimate concerns that have not been addressed due to a lack of research, specifically the “ratio of type II to type I muscle fibres,” “lung capacity” and pelvic structure. Dr. Johnny Benjamin offers a similar critique, but without any specifics. (Although, he also thinks women shouldn’t be allowed to fight five minute rounds, so I’m not sold on his draconian standards for “safety” regarding female fighters.) And certain female fighters have spoken out against Fox, including Meisha Tate. (Again, take her opinion for what you will.)
What this really comes down to is a difference in philosophy. Fallon Fox and many other transgendered athletes meet the requirements of the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency. A peer-reviewed study concerning trans athletes enumerates three main facts concerning this debate; one, that by the metrics utilized in studies thus far, there is no discernible advantage trans athletes have over their competition. Two, that there is a natural “broad variance” that exists in individual sexes, and that the measure by which trans athletes may be included in sports is not whether they meet the mean of that variance, but merely whether they test within that variance. And finally, that there is insufficient evidence to definitively determine if there is or is not an unfair advantage held by trans athletes.
What does this mean? It means how you approach these facts determines whether or not you believe a trans athlete should be allowed to participate. Personally, I believe that evidence is required to withhold someone from participating in what they desire to do, and as the evidence currently available to us indicates that she doesn’t hold an unfair advantage, Fallon Fox should be allowed to continue to fight. Sexton believes that “in a sport where one participant is trying to do physical damage to another, the burden of proof should be reversed. We need good scientific evidence to support the assertion that Fox has no advantage as a result of having been born male.” This too is a legitimate argument.
I think there are three things we can at least agree on. The first is Fallon Fox should have disclosed her biological past. While there is no evidence that transgender individuals possess an unfair advantage currently, it may one day come to light that there is. Should that day come, it would be necessary to draw a distinction between trans and female fighters, and that will require disclosure. Second, there clearly needs to be more research done on this subject, to determine if there is a measurable competitive advantage or disadvantage held by trans athletes. Hopefully the Fallon Fox controversy will help draw attention to this. And finally, that if any progress is to be made in transgendered rights, both in and out of sports, it’s necessary to treat transgendered individuals with respect, as people of the sex they choose to be. Immature bigotry spawned from an irrational fear of the unknown or unnatural only serves to lower the public discourse, contribute to misinformation and inflame prejudices. Whether it’s Joe Rogan calling Fallon Fox “a man without a dick” or John McCain calling MMA “human-cockfighting” back in the 1990s, it’s just the same uneducated nonsense that we’ll look back on a decade or two as the archaic gasps of a people desperate to hang on to how they thought the world ought to be.
