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A new Supreme Court decision allows states to unilaterally ban transgender girls from girls teams.

The ruling may have effects on all girls, not just transgender girls.

Any young woman could be accused of not being a "real" girl and face consequences.

The most recent Supreme Court ruling about transgender girls in sports is no doubt a major blow to transgender athletes, although as Carrie Costello wrote in their blog, it is not anywhere as bad as it could be. It was not a broad ruling denying transgender rights; it was a narrow ruling indicating something was distinctive about sports, and so the ruling only applied narrowly to school sports. Still, this is one more decision dismissing the needs and rights of gender-nonconforming youngsters. And I encourage you to read about those effects.

In this column, however, I’m inspired by thoughts recently tweeted by sociologist Jessie Calarco on BlueSky:

As the mom of a cisgender girl athlete, I’m worried not only about the potential invasion of privacy (and bodily autonomy) but about the pressure that the threat of gender inspection could put on girl athletes (cis and trans) to present themselves in stereotypically gendered ways.

As the mom of a cisgender girl athlete, I’m worried not only about the potential invasion of privacy (and bodily autonomy) but about the pressure that the threat of gender inspection could put on girl athletes (cis and trans) to present themselves in stereotypically gendered ways.

I share this........

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