I'm usually not one to discuss women's sports or women's issues. Not out of a lack of respect, but simply from a lack of knowledge. (Clearly some writers don't let the latter stop them.) But today I'm irked. Quite irked. If I were to ever describe the kind of writing that receives and deserves criticism from Bottom of the Barrel, it's the writers who display unabashed ignorance and nonacceptance. It's this that brings me back to the Kye Allums story.
Let me give you a brief summary. Kye is physically female, but emotionally male. He (Kye wants to be addressed as a man) wants to have surgery and take male hormones after graduation to make the transition complete. The only thing holding him back is his scholarship, which will probably be revoked if he takes hormones (the NCAA would not allow him to play - and rightfully so - if he starts to develop male physicality because it gives him an unfair advantage). If you watch the second video on the OTL website, you'll notice that one writer analyzing the situation claims that if Kye truly wants to be male, he should play on the men's team.
As often discussed on this blog, women simply cannot compete athletically with men because of the vast physical advantage. No matter how many hormones Kye takes, he cannot equal the physical development of a male for 20 years. But that's not even the biggest issue. As a male, I feel like I can speak for my gender when I say that a transgender basketball player would not exactly become "one of the guys." Even if the entire team is completely respectful (which would most likely not happen), there's very little common ground to establish a relationship, especially in just one year. On the women's team, she has teammates and coaches who have known him previously, despite his change in gender recognition.
To bring this back to the sports world at large, this story touches on a larger issue which frustrates me beyond belief. Before I dive in, let me be clear about one thing. I hate that young men and women of lesser intelligence receive admission to academic institutions simply on the basis of sports. (Obviously some atheletes can get into these schools on their own academic merit, but a lot cannot). On the flip side, once a student receives a scholarship, you can't take it away simply because the student chooses not to play. Of course I understand the impetus. The athlete received admission on the basis that he or she would play a sport. But what about athletes who get cut or injured? Do they deserve to lose their scholarships? For most, loss of scholarship means dropping out. Is this the message that schools really want to send? They're essentially saying that if you can't help us athletically, we can't help you academically. But who gets hurt in this situation more? Does it really kill the school to keep these kids around, even if they quit playing?
If the above situation is a reality, there will always be athletes who take advantage of the system: those who gain admission to various colleges and quit their respective sport on day one. The solution then, is to require a minimum of two years of athletics before a student can quit the team. That or ban athletic scholarships completely (which should be the real solution, but I'm not trying to start a riot here).
This is the catch-22 Kye finds himself in. He has openly admitted that he will never feel right until he is anatomically male. But officially changing genders would lead to him losing his scholarship. As much as I want to blame the NCAA, they are simply attempting to maintain the integrity of the game. The true culprit is GW, who would most likely revoke Kye's scholarship if he went ahead with the medical procedure.
I hate college sports sometimes.
