I entered a man in the Women on Waves surf event – we need to open discussion about transgender athletes competing in non-coed events

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I am writing in response to Liza Monroy’s opinion piece on Nov. 26 about the entry of local surf coach Calder Nold, a male, in the Women on Waves contest. I want to thank Lookout for respecting the tradition of journalism by reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to respond.

Monroy did not contact me before she penned her story, which is critical of me, so I would like to clarify why I entered Nold in the Women on Waves event. My intention was two-pronged: I wanted to bring light to the vague guidelines set by the Women on Waves organizers about who was invited and allowed to participate, and to spark a conversation about the participation of transgender athletes in non-coed sporting events.

Monroy addresses the first point. I agree with Monroy’s point in her article that other competitors “were angry that a cis man was allowed to … register and surf.” In response, Women on Waves put out a clear statement, which they published along with the photos from this year’s event: 

“To clarify our intention to uphold a safe, supportive, and inclusive contest for women, girls, and those who identify as female, we will include new language next year on the website. Each participant will be asked to verify that they are female or identify as female in the registration process. On the day of the event, we will ask you to sign our waiver in person and verify your identity.”

I applaud the organizers for seeing the need for this sort of clarity and addressing it. I do not, as Monroy writes, have a “personal vendetta … [opposing the] inclusion of trans women.” 

I had an issue with the event’s organizers not being transparent and forthcoming in what exactly they meant by the contest being “inclusive,” and according to Monroy, others felt the same way. The organizers now seem to have figured this out and made the appropriate changes, which I appreciate. 

I am thrilled to know that I was not the only one who was confused by the event’s lack of transparency, and that the issue has been resolved.

The second part of my intention is, as Monroy puts it, to bring “one of our nation’s thorniest issues to our shores.” Again, Monroy says it quite well: There are “divisive debates about transgender athletes, specifically, trans women competing in women’s divisions.” 

This is a debate that is unsettled and evolving nationally, and it has nothing to do with anti-trans sentiment. 

Certainly, the fear of offending the transgender community and its allies, and the risk that comes with doing so (more on that, below), is tying the hands and smothering many voices of reason when it comes to this discussion. By entering an apparently male surfer in Women on Waves, I sought to give people a safe chance to express their sentiments … and they did. 

In her article, Monroy appears to be outraged at the idea of surfing against someone who is apparently a man, but gives no grace for the possibility of someone being incensed at the idea of surfing against a trans woman.

In my original opinion piece, linked to Monroy’s story, I suggested that Nold’s physical abilities would not be changed based on his self-identified gender. I did not say this to be mean, I say this as a woman of science. 

Before I earned my doctorate in the human sciences field of chiropractic, I was a Division I varsity athlete, at Oregon State University (OSU), and before that, I was a competitive high school athlete. In high school, I had a fulfilling career as a rower on the women’s crew team. Following an injury in my junior year, I was unable to continue to row, but still had dreams of being a college athlete. 

There is a provision in men’s rowing to allow females to compete with the men as coxswains. In rowing, the coxswain is the person in the boat who is responsible for the safety of the crew; he or she steers the boat with a rudder and gives commands to the crew through a microphone. The coxswains are always the physically smallest people on the team, as they do not actually row, and so the lighter they are, the better for the speed of the boat. 

The provision to allow females to be on the men’s team is based on these physics and has become an important part of the sport for over 50 years, since Title IX demanded equal opportunities for women’s participation in collegiate athletics. So, when my career as a rower was cut short, I joined the men’s team as a coxswain, first at Los Gatos Rowing Club, then I was recruited as a coxswain to the OSU men’s team. 

From the moment we pushed off the dock, I could feel the difference in the power from the women’s boats. When we started a practice race piece that first day, I literally got a tingle in my toes from the acceleration created by the power and speed that the men could put on the oar — they were so much stronger and faster than the women.

I have the athletic experience and clinical knowledge to know the difference in the physical and athletic potential of the different chromosomal sexes. In my original opinion piece, I cited a paper by the American College of Sports Medicine that outlines the differences in the physical abilities of chromosomal males and females. I included it because not everyone has had the experiences or the education that I have, and as a result, a lot of people do not understand these scientific truths. 

Monroy even goes so far as to blame transphobia for “the false notion that trans women are advantaged over other women in athletics.” I am certain that it would not have mattered how those men in the boat identified, they would have pulled on that oar just as hard. This is not an anti-trans statement, these are just the facts. 

I mean it sincerely: In this conversation of fairness in sport, it really does not matter how an athlete identifies.

I do not attack or belittle the trans experience; I do not even approach it. I am only sharing my opinion, based on facts, regarding the participation of transgender athletes in non-coed sporting events. How a person may experience the world does not have a place in the conversation regarding his or her physical potential.

To call what we did a “harmful act” is hardly accurate, as no one was harmed in the event. Nold placed dead last in both of his heats, eliminating no surfers from the contest. Additionally, there was an open spot in all three heats for his age group, so his entry did not even preclude another masters surfer from entering the event. He was the picture of kindness, sportsmanship and gratitude in the water, cheering in support of the other surfers and high-fiving them after great waves. 

His registration was paid for, like every other competitor, and he had to surf the same abysmal conditions as everyone else in his heats. If you ask him, he was there to stand up for women, to give us a voice, and to support a charity event. 

Whom did he harm? What did this hurt? 

Has our society degraded so much that it is, as Sabrina Brennan put it in her interview with Monroy, “mean-spirited, disrespectful, unkind, and selfish” to question someone or something?

Now, to say that no one was harmed in this story is not entirely true. 

In the hours following the release of Monroy’s article outing me as a local chiropractor (which I did not do in my original piece), my business suddenly started receiving one-star reviews from people I have never heard of, and certainly have not seen as patients. My business, which I own and operate independently, is now being castigated online because I had the nerve to speak out on a current issue. I am taking the hit because I had the nerve to speak up for a population that feels they cannot, for fear of exactly this, or worse, happening to them.

Yes, it was a “simplistic” move to enter Nold in the event. Given the utter lack of clarity around the issue of fair competition, I do not regret entering him, and I would do it again in a minute. 

People are allowed to take different sides in an argument, and transgender athletes competing in non-coed sports is clearly an argument that is not settled, so why are people attacking each other over it? I, too, am calling for more inclusion, tolerance and understanding. 

I am not suggesting that we all cannot surf together. I am just taking a stand that non-coed sports maintain the boundaries between the established biological sexes.

EmilyAnne Pillari is an ocean lover and surfer living in Santa Cruz. She is a chiropractor who specializes in perinatal and pediatric care.