Atlantic Sportswriter Sally Jenkins Is a Denier of 'Lingering Testosterone Advantage'

January 18th, 2026 11:12 AM

Remember during Covid when liberals kept insisting that they were the ones who believed in "THE Science?" Well now that "THE Science" has proved to become politically inconvenient for them we see the hilarious spectacle of those same liberals denying basic science such as during a recent Senate hearing when a leftist doctor refused to answer the simple question of  "Can men get pregnant?"

We can now also see that same pathetic denial of obvious scientific reality taking effect in the current arguments surrounding the Supreme Court case about upholding state bans of biological males aka trans-women participating in women's sports.  One periodical that has leaped full scale into the denial of reality abyss on this topic is Atlantic magazine. On Friday at The Atlantic, new hire (and former longtime Washington Post sports columnist) Sally Jenkins went through the silly motions of pretending that there is at present no scientific conclusion as to whether "trans women" (men) have a natural athletic advantage over women as you can see in "The Question That the Lawyers Representing Trans Athletes Didn’t Answer."

The subhead said the common-sense biology argument was "meandering and unsatisfying." Many will find those words an apt description of this piece. 

When she took a buyout at the Post, colleagues gushed over her "moral compass." Now watch Jenkins inadvertently entertain the readers with her absurd ideological kvetching over how we just don't have enough scientific information as yet to make a determination of the athletic advantage of biological males over women:

At the core of the matter is whether trans-women athletes have a lingering testosterone advantage — a question that remains scientifically disputed. Until that point is settled, a resolution to this painful issue is hard to envision.

Would that also be the excuse for the leftist doctor not answering if men could get pregnant? Because the science is still disputed, so no resolution on the matter can now be attained?

The dockets for Hecox and B.P.J. were loaded with amicus briefs that showed contradictory medical opinions. For the state petitioners, half a dozen sports doctors submitted 90 academic papers asserting that “even before puberty,” males have denser, stronger, and longer bones, and can “throw faster and kick harder than women.” They wrote, “No amount of testosterone suppression” would “eliminate these male athletic advantages.” According to one of those reports, boys had more speed, limb strength, and power as early as age 3.

The briefs in support of Becky Pepper-Jackson, the 15-year-old shot-putter and discus-thrower at the center of the West Virginia case, were equally adamant. Pepper-Jackson began transitioning from male to female when she was in third grade, and from sixth grade onward has taken medication to block male puberty, as well as estrogen treatment.

The incredibly bizarre thing here is that Jenkins completely overlooks the sheer barbarity of commencing sex changes in children including interference in the natural growing process via puberty blockers.

Where the respondents’ lawyers faltered the most was in addressing the potential harm to cisgender athletes.

Whenever someone uses the term "cisgender" -- meaning normal women or men -- they are sure to be leftists with a highly unscientific agenda to spin.

...when it comes to whether there is a legacy testosterone advantage, we don’t know. Separating people by sex, unlawful in most areas of civic life, is potentially vital to fairness in sports, just as we accept other classifications, such as weight and age, in the quest for an even starting line.

A person can support trans civil rights with their whole heart and favor open competition for children yet also wonder whether athletes should compete in their birth category at the higher levels, for fear that a meaningful number of women may be harmed by transgender inclusion. Americans as a whole have yet to tease out a consensus philosophy on this, much less the biology of it. Until that happens, the justices would be wise to say that the issue lacks certainty, and to ask for more clarity and science before making a broad ruling.

Aw gee! We just don't know! Do larger bones, bigger muscles, and more testosterone really make a difference in sports? We, or at least Sally Jenkins, need to somehow tease out a consensus philosophy on this because this issue lacks certainty. Let us just wait and wait and wait for more clarity and science. The same uncertain science that prohibits obvious agenda folks like Jenkins from providing answers including if men can get pregnant.