Safety, Fairness, Inclusion?

An Evening with Dr Emma Hilton

Does basing sporting categories on biology equate to banning transgender people from participation?

We are excited to be hosting the developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton at our forthcoming event on Monday 11 July, our last event for this academic year.

Register here.

Does basing sporting categories on biology equate to banning transgender people from participation?

To many people it seems uncontroversial to say that males are bigger, stronger and faster than females and that this is the reason we have sporting categories based on biology. However it has become controversial and to some, exclusionary. In a bid to be inclusive, sporting bodies around the world - including the International Olympic Committee - have pursued policies which allow transwomen to compete in the female category. Trans athletes such as the swimmer Lia Thomas, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, cyclists Emily Bridges and Veronica Ivy (formerly Rachel McKinnon) and runner Cece Telfer, among others, have become household names.

Join us for what will surely be a lively discussion with Dr Emma Hilton about safety, fairness and inclusion in women's sport and whether biology still has a role to play in determining sporting categories.

BIO

Emma Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester, with a research career in clinical and developmental genetics. She has authored over twenty peer-reviewed manuscripts, won international prizes for her work, and contributed to key medical textbooks. Over the last five years, she has applied her developmental biology expertise to the study of sex development, sex differences, and sport; she has published the seminal review of musculoskeletal physiology in transgender woman suppressing testosterone, consulted with international and national sports governing bodies, and developed sports policy. She is a director of Sex Matters, a human rights group who campaigns for clarity about sex in law.