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NPR Issues Correction After Claiming There’s ‘Limited Scientific Evidence’ Men Have Physical Advantages In Sports

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James Lynch Investigative Reporter
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National Public Radio (NPR) issued a correction to its Friday tweet claiming there is “limited scientific evidence” men have athletic advantages over women.

“Correction: An earlier tweet incorrectly stated there is limited scientific evidence of physical advantage. Existing research shows that higher levels of testosterone do impact athletic performance. But there’s limited research involving elite trans athletes in competition,” NPR said on Sunday. (RELATED: Washington Post Poll Inadvertently Finds Vast Majority Of ‘Trans’ People Aren’t Really Transgender)

NPR’s original tweet linked to a story about the World Athletics Council voting to prevent biological males from competing as women in women’s athletic competitions. The council voted to exclude biological males who went through male puberty and identify as transgender from the female category as of Mar. 31, 2023.

“The international governing body for track and field will ban trans women athletes from elite women’s competitions, citing a priority for fairness over inclusion, despite limited scientific evidence of physical advantage,” NPR originally tweeted.

The tweet was deleted after Twitter fact-checked NPR’s claims with numerous studies demonstrating the physical advantage biological males have in sports, even when they claim to be transgender and receive female hormones. Each study was published by a major medical journal in the U.S. or internationally.

“Significant evidence from numerous studies demonstrates that trans-athletes maintain a competitive physical advantage despite gender-affirming care,” Twitter’s fact check says. The platform’s fact check feature allows users to submit relevant context that gets attached to a tweet when other users rate it as helpful.

The scientific evidence backs up real world scenarios where biological males have outperformed women and broken records in female athletic competitions. Lia Thomas, born William Thomas, broke multiple records as a swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s team after Thomas ranked 462nd on the men’s team.