Pro athlete 'scared' for female boxers amid change letting trans women in the ring: 'Only a matter of time'
A female skateboarder said she felt "grateful" she doesn't compete in a combat sport after hearing about new guidelines allowing transgender boxers to enter the ring with biological females.
"I don't understand how some people view this as progressive. It's absolutely ridiculous," Taylor Silverman, a skateboarder and host of the skateboarding YouTube show "Boonies HQ," told Fox News. "I think even small children understand that boys and men should not be hitting girls and women. It's really simple."
Silverman, 29, first spoke out publicly against allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's leagues in May 2022 after she came in second to trans opponents in two skateboarding competitions. Since then, she's remained outspoken in the heated debate over transgender inclusion in women’s athletics, which in recent years has had a national impact on a wide range of sports including swimming, track and field, weightlifting, cycling, volleyball and golf.
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Boxing is the latest sport to become embroiled in the controversy. A USA Boxing policy went into effect Jan. 1 allowing transgender athletes to fight biological females if they meet certain criteria.
Silverman, in response, said she "actually felt very grateful that I just skateboard and don’t compete in a sport that is contact or combat."
"It really scared me for the women who are boxing," she added. "Not only is this an issue of them not being able to get the recognition they deserve, not being able to succeed no matter how hard they work, it's also an issue of safety."
Since boxing's International Federation hadn't made any determinations about trans competitors, USA Boxing was free to make its own rules.
"USA Boxing’s overriding objective is the safety of all boxers and fair competition between all boxers," the sport's governing body in August 2022 when the policy was first drafted.
Advocates for inclusion argue that banning trans athletes from competing in women's leagues has negative effects on a vulnerable population and that bans and restrictions aren't based in science.
Under the updated guidelines, to fight in the women’s category, trans boxers must have completed gender reassignment surgery and report quarterly hormone testing results to USA Boxing for at least four years. Additionally, a fighter’s testosterone must remain below a certain level during those four years to stay eligible.
"The conditions will be monitored and tested at the fighter’s expense with a 12-month suspension for failing to meet the standards," the rule book states.
But Silverman believes biological males will still hold advantages no matter what the requirements and restrictions for trans boxers. She said it's only a matter of time until women are injured — or worse.
"Now we're entering the territory of combat sports where people are physically hitting each other, attacking each other," she told Fox News. "Unfortunately, I think if this continues, it's only a matter of time before a woman gets killed, because men and women are not the same."
Silverman added that these stipulations will result in a policy "that doesn't please anybody."
"The people who want men to compete in women's sports, they don't want any restrictions whatsoever," she said. "They want somebody to just be able to show up and say, ‘I identify this way, I feel this way, so let me do what I want.’"
Boxing champions Ebanie Bridges and Amanda Serrano as well as two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields also criticized the new rules.
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"I don’t care about ‘political correctness,’" Bridges, the bantamweight world titleholder, posted on X. "It’s politically incorrect to have a man fighting a woman."
"The girls need to stick together or women’s sports in 50 years will be filled with male-born champions," she added.
Silverman said she's grateful for the professional athletes' remarks. She hopes that if more people advocate for fairness in women’s sports, it will become easier for others to speak out.
"In the beginning, it was incredibly scary to speak out because nobody else was," Silverman said. "But if we stay silent, it's like we're going along with it."
"That was one of the things that made me speak up, because I felt guilty letting people think that I was actually okay with this," she added.
When she spoke her mind in an Instagram post nearly two years ago, Silverman said it "felt like a huge weight lifted off" her shoulders.
"People who speak out feel a calling to do so," she told Fox News. "It may not be something they wanted to do, but they know that somebody has to be that voice to inspire others."
Male and female athletes' vocal defense of women's sports not only make it easier for more women to speak up, Silverman said but "people are realizing how serious it is, and how much it's actually happening."
"I do not want to be the last generation of girls to ever experience fairness in women's sports," she said. "I want to have kids, and I want my daughter to have the same opportunity that I did."
USA Boxing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.