WATCH: Women's Swimming Champion Calls for End to Trans Swimmers in Women's Sports

Warner Todd HustonDecember 29, 2021

Jeri Shanteau, an 11-time NCAA All-American swimming champion, is stepping up to call for an end to biological men competing as women in college swimming as U Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas continues a controversial swimming career.

Shanteau appeared on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle with guest host Sean Duffy on Tuesday and called for a “political movement” to confront the growing problem of men who claim to be transgender women competing in women’s sports. “If you care about women you should care about this cause. … Male bodies competing against women does not uphold what we believe in fairness of sport. And it will trickle down to everything else in life,” she added.

The former swimming champ gave a “call to action” during her appearance.

She added, “what you see right now in women’s athletics is going to be the extinction of women’s sports in general. This is the beginning phases of what this looks like. We need people to understand what is going on in athletics. We need people to understand that this is a complete discrimination of women, and what is happening that we do not have our institutions and our universities and our governing bodies standing by.”

“Watching this unfold is complete neglect,” Shanteau warned.

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“We live in a culture where people are scared. The cancel culture, people lose their livelihoods,” she continued. “The UPenn women did write a letter and they had to be anonymous because it’s scary for them, and what they’re risking, their entire livelihoods thereafter. It’s people like me who hopefully start a trend to encourage more people to speak up, anybody that can do anything.”

Shanteau insisted that the issue affects all women whether they are in sports or not.

“We have mothers and daughters and sisters and aunts; this is a women’s issue. If you care about women you should care about this cause,” Shanteau exclaimed. “And, unfortunately, it’s really hard for everyone to speak out right now and I actually have empathy for their position. I take great responsibility in trying to speak up and do something and hopefully, there will be a wave thereafter.”

Shanteau also expressed her worries that the Biden administration would enshrine radical transgender rights in federal Title IX rules.

“My reaction to that is the same reaction I’m having over all of this,” Shanteau told Duffy. “How do we not understand that if we do not use sex as our identifier, we are going to make women obsolete in general, and not just in athletics? It is a standard in which we use because male bodies competing against women does not uphold what we believe in fairness of sport. And it will trickle down to everything else in life.

The women are in second place after day one of the Zippy Invitational.

Lia Thomas set a pool and meet record in the 500 free!

὏ https://t.co/8ECO8Dts6b #FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/4V4wjhnkOf

— Penn Swimming & Diving (@PennSwimDive) December 4, 2021

“Young women, what we are setting a standard for, if we do not do something now, we are going to look at young women and our daughters and we are going to say, ‘No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, it will not matter and you do not matter,’” Shanteau concluded. “That is the message that societally we are preparing ourselves to send to the next generation across the board if we do not do something now. And we need a political movement. We need people to care. We need laws enacted to help the discrimination that is happening against women currently.”

The record-smashing season experienced by transgender U Penn swimmer Lia Thomas has been utterly wiping out women’s swimming records this year. The overpowered swimmer has brought at least two UPenn swimmers to denounce the school’s inclusion of Thomas on the team. And just last week, a U.S. swimming official quit the sport in protest over Thomas.

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