Men’s Athletic Advantages Are Real. The Seattle Times Must Correct Its Claim

The Seattle Times told Washington readers, in its own voice, that there is "no serious scientific evidence" that males who identify as women are better athletes than girls and women, and the paper should correct it¹.

Calkins said the Times is "another example of a paper that has abandoned journalistic integrity for activism²." Parents of girl athletes should ask what else a paper will print as fact once it decides the question is closed.

The Times called the evidence unserious

The sentence ran in a Nov. 8 analysis of how Washington voted on girls' sports, written by Times reporters Daniel Beekman and Ryan Nguyen³. It carries no attribution to any source, so it is the paper speaking¹.

Set the vote beside the claim: radio host Jason Rantz reports that more than 1.25 million Washingtonians voted for Initiative 638. It passed with 56.6% of the vote. The measure covers K-12 sports and, Rantz notes, does not hinge on anyone's hormone regimen. Rantz also points out that the Times passage names no study and offers no definition of "serious³." So what were more than a million voters supposed to have missed?

Calkins adds that comments on the story were turned off¹. Parents who voted to protect their daughters' races were told, with no room to answer, that the evidence behind their vote is unserious.

56.6%

Advantages can persist after hormones

The best answer the Times' side has is that hormone treatment can reduce athletic performance, and Calkins credits Rantz for citing studies that show it¹. A reduction is not an erasure, and the studies show the gap staying open.

Calkins points to a 2020 review in Sports Medicine finding that transgender women typically lose just 5% of their muscle mass after a year of testosterone suppression. He cites a 2020 study of U.S. Air Force personnel in which transgender women were still 12% faster than their female counterparts in a 1.5-mile run after two years of hormone therapy¹. Rantz describes the same study: the push-up and sit-up gaps disappeared, but the speed advantage remained³.

Rantz adds a 2021 systematic review of 24 studies, which found that strength, lean body mass and muscle area all declined with treatment but stayed above female comparisons even after 36 months. He also reports that the American College of Sports Medicine's 2023 consensus statement put typical male advantages at 10% to 30%, depending on the event³. Calkins notes a 2025 scientific paper, linked by journalist Benjamin Ryan, showing that substantial advantages in muscle strength, power, size and aerobic capacity can remain after male puberty¹. A newspaper that says "no serious evidence" has to explain every one of these away.

12%

Thomas’s results show the stakes

The record has a name on it: Lia Thomas, the Penn swimmer Calkins says was ranked 65th in the country in the 500-yard freestyle in 2019. After nearly three years of feminizing hormone therapy, Thomas won the NCAA Division I championship in the same event in 2022¹. Penn's own biography records that title in the women's 500-yard freestyle³.

Riley Gaines answered Calkins on X: "These people live in fantasy world⁴."

Washington has its own case. Calkins says a Camas High cross-country runner who switched teams midseason this year went from 76th in a boys JV race to first in a girls varsity race. He says the Times sent a reporter to three of that runner's meets and never quoted a female runner from them¹. The girls who raced those meets are the people the Times' line leaves out.

Correct the claim and protect girls

The Seattle Times should correct the sentence. A paper that prints "no serious scientific evidence" as its own finding, when the studies Calkins and Rantz cite show male advantages persisting after hormone treatment Rantz summarizes studies as finding that some physical advantages persisted after hormone treatment, owes its readers a correction and an apology to the girls it dismissed. Washington's voters saw the evidence the paper would not, and they acted on it.

Officials should honor the voters’ decision and carry out the protections they approved.

Rantz reports that in October, Holly Burns and 12 of her Camas High teammates walked off a cross-country course³. Parents in Washington can demand the Times correct its claim, and demand their officials keep faith with the vote.

Sources

1. The Seattle Times says there's 'no serious scientific evidence' trans athletes have an advantage over women | OutKick
2. @Matt_Calkins on X, 2026-11-10: My old shop, the Seattle Times, actually published a piece claiming there's "no serious scientific evidence" trans women are better athletes than biological women. It's another example of a paper that has abandoned journalistic integrity for activism. https:, 2026-11-10
3. Seattle Times erases science on trans athletes
4. @Riley_Gaines_ on X, 2026-11-10: They say there's no evidence men and women are physically different .... These people live in fantasy world., 2026-11-10