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How women and girls lose out when men and boys are allowed to compete in women’s sports.

Women and girls lose prizes, awards and money when men are allowed to compete in women’s sports.

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There have been changes in policies that have been implemented by many sports bodies, with categories being separated according to "gender identity" rather than sex. Such changes have reached down to local sports clubs, which have introduced policies permitting boys and girls to participate according to the “gender” they say they “identify with”. (e.g., EHC Basel Ladies).

The inclusion of men in female sports poses potential risks to the physical safety of women and girls (e.g. injuries on the field or harassment in changing rooms). In addition, these policies place females at an unfair disadvantage when it comes to winning medals, being selected for teams or acquiring sponsorships.

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Femina Helvetica strongly advocates for the segregation of the two sexes in sport. We recognize that men permanently hold and retain physical advantages over women, even if they take estrogen or testosterone suppressors. Such advantages include (but are not limited to) speed, strength, weight and size differences. 

Men who claim to be women are now taking part in female sports and winning competitions in Switzerland:

• A Swiss man, Nicola/”Nicole” Orlandi, won the world judo female veteran championship in 2019. In a documentary on SRG/SSR focusing on his “transition”, he was depicted as a star. Italian Swiss television RSI also portrayed him as a female athlete in a piece on sex equality.

• A man, “Kiana” Gysin, won the female cycling race Zuricrit in Zurich in 2023. He gave up the idea of running again the following year, purportedly because his testosterone level was too high. 

• According to the website shewon.org, the inclusion of men in Rad Race Fixed 42 World Championship, Women’s Cycling in Berlin, on July 2, 2023 put Selina Burch, a Swiss woman, in third place. Without male participants, she would have been second.

Many male journalists such as Patrick Oberli (Prix Dumur awardee 2016) are especially supportive of men who claim to be women and want to compete in female sports, and even question the material, biological reality of womanhood by asking: “What is a real woman?”. 

Femina Helvetica requests that medals and prize money obtained by these men should be returned, and awarded to the women who were unfairly ranked behind them.

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Links to supporting documentation of this issue:

1. Article on Fabienne Peter, a man who played in the Female Hockey Club Basel from 2018 to 2020.
   https://www.blick.ch/sport/eishockey/verband-aenderte-fuer-fabienne-die-regeln-das-ist-die-erste-transfrau-im-schweizer-eishockey-id8861646.html

2. The identity of the man who won the Judo female championship in Marrakesh in 2019, and the female judoka who fought against him.
   https://judotv.com/judoka/56342

3. The documentary that celebrated his “transition” on Swiss TV (SRG/SSR). 
   https://www.playsuisse.ch/fr/show/2012840

4. Swiss-Italian TV RSI championed him as a female athlete in their segment on “equality”. 
   https://www.rsi.ch/la-rsi/l-azienda/Tra-Sport-e-uguaglianza--1973006.html

5. Orlandi invited to speak with female athletes about equality in sport. 
   https://www.ssr-corsi.ch/attualita/eventi/sport-e-uguaglianza-davanti-alle-telecamere

6. Photographs by the Swiss Judo federation posted on Facebook showing Orlandi.
   https://www.facebook.com/Swiss.Judo.Jujitsu/posts/-veterans-world-championships-marrakesh-mar-some-more-impressions-of-the-tournam/2661270767258353/

7. Picture of the man who won the female cycling race Zuricrit in Zurich in 2023. 
   https://www.limmattalerzeitung.ch/limmattal/zuerich/radsport-erhoehter-testosteronspiegel-kiana-gysins-nimmt-dieses-jahr-nicht-am-zuricrit-teil-ld.2616264

8. The website shewon.org lists women who would have been the winners if men had not cheated by competing in their sports.
   https://www.shewon.org

9. Article in 24 heures by Patrick Oberli who supports men who cheat by competing in women’s sports, October 2023
   https://www.24heures.ch/transidentite-femmes-trans-elles-se-battent-pour-briser-le-tabou-sportif-286591966596