Who Is Anne Andres? Why A Transgender Breaking Women's Powerlifting Record Cause Online Controversy?

She took center stage. She walked towards the barbell that had heavier weights on it compared to other competitors. With a confident groan, she lifted the heaviest weights, creating history in women’s powerlifting.

Yet, history was tainted with an unfair advantage and two steps backward for female athletes. So why is a woman’s victory a setback for women’s sports?

The key factor in this discourse is that she is a transgender woman.

Anne Andres entered the Western Canadian Powerlifting & Bench Press Championships under the newly sanctioned Canadian gender self-identification policies.

On August 13, Andres broke women’s powerlifting record in the Females Master Unequipped category at the recent meet in Manitoba. A new women’s national record was witnessed at the Brandon University Healthy Living Centre event– Andres pulled a score of 597.5 kilograms. The second-place winner SuJan Gill lifted 387.5 kilograms, 200 kg less than Andres’s victorious score.

This unofficial world powerlifting record in the women’s category has raised concerns over the validity of the fair competition, given that Anne Andres has the upper hand owing to her physiological metrics. Here’s a complete analysis of the questionable win and the online outrage.

Who Is Anne Andres?

Anne Andres is a 40-year-old transgender woman from Canada. As per her account, she began her transitioning process 20 years ago. She mentions in one of her videos that she has undergone surgery, necessary hormonal procedures for transitioning, and counseling.

She expressed her stance as a transgender woman involved in women’s sports with a caption–

“I got surgery — I can prove without any doubt whatsoever that I have gone through every step, which means whatever governing body decides to make decisions, I will pass that test.”

“I actually care about women in sport because I AM a woman in sport.”

Andres began training as a powerlifter somewhere around 2015. She uploaded a post before representing Canada at the World Masters Powerlifting Championships in October–

“I … didn’t touch a barbell in my entire life until 7 years ago.”

“I will win by a good margin. This is due to my training ethic, but people widely misattribute it to my history 20 years ago.”

Why Was Anne Andres Allowed To Compete in Women’s Powerlifting?

The Canadian government issued several policies in 2017 to support transgender activism. One such passage in Bill C-16 amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to add “gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.”

This law implied that transgender males were allowed to transfer to women’s prisons on the grounds of their self-identified gender.

The same connotation is applied to women’s sports, where transgender people are allowed to participate in the sports of the gender they identify as regardless of what sex they were assigned at birth.

The Canadian Self-Identification Policy states that competitors can enter on their preferred gender alone, without mandating information about their hormones or medical transitions.

Banking on this policy, Andres was allowed to compete in the women’s powerlifting meet. But her win was met with valid criticisms from industry experts, peers, female athletes, and netizens.

Why a Trans Male Breaking Women’s Powerlifting Record Cause Online Controversy?

Picture this: You are a woman, given a task to eat 50 tacos in 10 minutes to get a stable job at Taco Bell. But the catch is you are competing with Joey Chestnut, the greatest athlete in eating competitions ever.

There are two aspects to this: Joey has been stomach training for years to swallow and digest food. And the other aspect is his characteristics, such as weight, capacity, and stamina, that give him an edge over you. Do you think you will get the job?

Female athletes argue that the unfair physiological advantage of Anne Andres does not validate women’s empowerment. Here’s a simple illustration of their concerns–

A US competitive swimmer Riley Gaines who also advocates for fair chances for women, chimes in on the issue, stating that Justin Trudeau’s administration is discriminating against women–

Another athlete, Lea Christina, weighs in on the situation, expressing her concerns that female athletes have been training to achieve Andres’s feat for years.

The right-wing British news channel TalkTV featured a segment on this issue, interviewing Canadian Powerlifter April Hutchinson, who revealed that several athletes withdrew from the Manitoba competition as they believed it was unjust and pointless to compete against Andres.

Netizens expressed their opinions on how Andres’s build puts her two steps ahead of the starting line. And to add fuel to the fire, a past video of Andres resurfaced where she is critical of her female peers’ performance.

Her unsolicited opinions have now become viral, with over 2 million views. Netizens criticized her for her tone-deaf comments–

“Why is women’s bench so bad? I mean not compared to me; we all know that I’m a tranny freak, so that doesn’t count, and no, we’re not talking about Mackenzie Lee, she’s got little T-Rex arms, and she is 400 pounds of chest muscle, apparently. I mean, standard bench in a powerlifting competition for women; I literally don’t understand why it’s so bad.”

In an attempt to prove how unjust the gender self-identification policy is, Avi Silverberg entered the women’s powerlifting competition, claiming that he identifies as a woman and breaks the benchpress record.

What Is A Woman? Case Studies

All these concerns boil down to one question– “What is a woman?“

Is being a woman a feeling, science, a matter of fact, or physical characteristics?

While these aspects are still debated, there has not been much resolution in women’s sports and arts.

CASE 1: A similar discourse was raised when people questioned whether Brittney Griner should be allowed to play for WNBA after she appeared in a press conference. Speculations surfaced on Griner’s gender identity and assigned sex, given her physiological traits and a baritone voice. A majority believed that she was transitioning. However, she has not come out on her gender and identifies as female, also assigned at birth.

CASE 2: Speaking of misgendering, Katie Ladecky was the latest target of unwarranted speculations on whether she is transgender after she broke Michael Phelps’s record. These rumors not only undermined her proficiency but also invaded her privacy with false claims about her sex.

CASE 3: When American swimmer Lia Thomas won, it sparked a similar outrage, given that she is a transgender competing with females. A swimmer’s performance is majorly attributed to their stature, which determines their chances of winning. The point is even if Thomas is a transgender woman, she cannot change her physical characteristics to an average female athlete.

CASE 4: The recent historic win of transgender woman Rikkie Valerie Kolle at Miss Netherlands 2023 started a discourse on beauty standards. The opinions leaned towards the fact that Rikkie has undergone facial restructuring surgery to appear more feminine. Doesn’t it negate the whole point of natural beauty at a beauty pageant? The counterargument to this was that other females also go under the knife for corrective procedures. Tell us your opinion on this in the comments section below.

CASE 5: Women in arts: this is the safest realm for transgender women, considering that art does not discriminate based on physical characteristics or assigned sex. Art judges based on an individual’s thinking, perception, and worldview. Hence, when Kim Petras won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group, people lauded her victory, which showed a positive transgender representation.

Here’s our proposal– Andres could be allowed to compete in the women’s powerlifting on the condition that she is given separate standards for scoring based on ratios. Meaning she can score only if she lifts an equivalent of other athletes based on her physiological capacity.

For example, if a standard female’s record is 350 kg and they weigh around 60 kg, then in order for Andres to win, she should lift an equivalent of this standard (ratio-wise) based on her weight and capacity.

Do you agree with this?

What is your take on this win? Do you think Andres is subjected to too much online hate? How would you propose that transgender athletes can be integrated into sports for a fair competition? Let us know in the comments section below.

ncG1vNJzZmiZppq%2ForPEm5yippdjsLC5jrCfqGWZqHqius2eZJqmlKeytHnWobBmmV2pv6K60qCcp5yVp3qjvsSaoqKml2LEsLnEp6pmqJ%2BssrO4yJ%2BroqaXYr%2Bmr86rm2abkarApnnOp6OippVisLC606umr52iqMZw