In 2021, I acted as an expert witness for USA Powerlifting (USAPL) in JayCee Cooper v USA Powerlifting (62-CV-21-211, State of Minnesota District Court). As part of my testimony, I performed an analysis of performance in male and female weightlifting competitions. The text of that statement is presented below, edited for ease of reading and a different audience. It’s still pretty dry though.
I have conducted an analysis of sex-based performance differences in weightlifting disciplines. In Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting, competitions are divided by sex, then body weight (BW) categories within sex.
Weight categories can be divided into: 1. “closed weight categories” (those BW categories with an upper body weight limit), and; 2. the “open weight category” (the top BW category with no upper body weight limit).
Importantly, competitor characteristics differ between these two types of BW category. Those within closed weight categories tend to be competitors at “fighting weight”. Data from closed weight categories is predicted to be a robust measurement of strength relative to BW and my analyses will focus on these weight categories to make assessments of performance gaps.
In contrast, competitors within the open weight category have no competitive pressure to limit acquisition of body fat to meet an upper weight threshold, often confounding strength outputs when compared to body weight. Data from open weight categories permits examination of maximum lift capacity.
Olympic weightlifting.
Li Wenwen, female open weight category gold medallist at Tokyo 2020. From Wikipedia.
To assess the performance gap between males and females in Olympic weightlifting, I first compared world records (WRs) by sex and weight class, recorded by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and available on their public database (accessed on 28th December 2021).
Olympic weightlifting is a sport composed of two different lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. Competitors are scored for the best combined total across both lifts.
A note: Weight categories in Olympic weightlifting were adjusted in 2019 (typically by a few kg at each threshold), and I have collated data from the 1998-2018 competitive block and the 2019-present competitive block into a single dataset.
Modelling of Olympic weightlifting WR total lifts by BW in closed weight categories reveals an average 32% advantage for males across the combined range of BW.
Olympic weightlifting WRs in closed weight categories of male and female competition.
To examine the hypothesis that male performance advantage may be largely (or even wholly) mediated by increased height and lever-derived advantages, I compared Olympic weightlifting data between equivalent weight categories which, to some extent, limit athlete height.
Between 1998 and 2018, a 69 kg category was common to both males and females; since 2019, males and females both have a 55 kg category. Comparison of records in the shared 69 kg (1998-2018) and 55 kg (2019-present) BW categories reveal that male WR holders are 30% stronger than the female WR holdersat the same BW. Furthermore, the male WR holders are similar (69 kg; 4 cm taller) or the same (55 kg) heights as their female WR peers, demonstrating that the 30% male strength advantage is not a function of superior height.
Trend line analysis of male and female BW at the same total lift capacity reveals parity of strength when females weigh approximately 35 kg heavier than males.
Only the two female WR holders in the open weight category (super heavyweight females at 106 kg BW in 1998-2018 and 151 kg BW in 2019-present) have posted WRs higher than any male WR within their competition block. The male WRs they respectively beat are those for the very lightest of male lifters.
Male WRs in the 69 kg category (1998-2018) and the 67 kg category (2019-present) are higher than these female WRs, despite male BW deficits of 37 kg and 84 kg, respectively.
Comparison of Olympic weightlifting WRs in the open weight category reveals a 37% and 46% advantage for males (1998-2018 and 2019-present, respectively).
Bonica Brown, current open weight category world record holder in international powerlifting. From Barbend.com.
Following the same methodology as above, I compared classic/raw powerlifting WRs recorded by the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) and available on their public database (accessed on 30th December 2021).
Powerlifting is a sport composed of three different lifts: the squat, the deadlift and the bench press. Competitors can compete for individual lifts and for the best combined total across all three lifts.
Analysis of classic/raw international powerlifting WR total lifts by BW in closed weight categories reveals an average 35% advantage for males across the combined range of BWs.
Classic/raw international powerlifting WRs in closed weight categories of male and female competition.
There is no shared BW category in powerlifting. However, there is an 83 kg male and an 84 kg female closed weight category. Comparison of WRs in these categories reveals the male WR holder is 32% stronger than the female WR holder at similar BW.
Trend line analysis of male and female BW at the same total lift capacity reveals parity of strength when females weigh around 40 kg heavier than males.
As for Olympic weightlifting, only Bonica Brown (pictured above; the female WR holder in the open weight category) has posted a WR higher than any male WR. The male WR in the 66 kg category surpasses that of Bonica Brown, despite a body weight deficit of 67 kg.
Comparison of international powerlifting WRs in the open weight category shows a 65% advantage for males.
USAPL powerlifting federation.
Morgan Leon, USA Powerlifting junior star. From Powerlifting Arizona.
Moving to elite domestic competition, I compared records for classic/raw powerlifting held by USAPL and available on their public database (accessed on 4th January 2022).
Analysis of classic/raw USAPL record total lifts by BW in closed weight categories reveals a 36% advantage for males across the combined range of BWs.
Classic/raw USAPL records in closed weight categories of male and female competition.
Comparison of records in the 83 kg male and 84 kg female categories reveals the male record holder is 30% stronger than the female record holder at similar BW.
Trend line analysis of male and female BW at the same total lift capacity reveals parity of strength when females weigh around 35 kg heavier than males.
Only the female record holders in the 84 kg and open weight category have posted records higher than any male record. The male record in the 66 kg category surpasses those of the female records in the 84 kg and open weight category, despite a BW deficit of 18 kg and 67 kg, respectively.
Comparison of USAPL records in the open weight category reveals a 66% advantage for males in the open weight category.
USAPL single competition results.
International and domestic federation records may not be representative of performance gaps in any given year, where athletes are unlikely to be record-breakers. To capture a snapshot of performance gaps in a given competition, I analysed all lifts from the USAPL Raw Nationals competition in 2019, the year the Plaintiff applied to compete with USAPL in the female category. Data is available from the USAPL public database (accessed on 10th January 2022).
Analysis of USAPL Raw National 2019 lifts by BW in closed weight categories (256 male athletes, 236 female athletes) reveals a 50% field advantage for males across the combined range of BWs.
USAPL Raw Nationals 2019 lifts in closed weight categories of male and female competition.
Comparison of lifts in the 83 kg male (53 athletes) and 84 kg female (48 athletes) categories reveals the male field performance advantage is 55% over the female field at similar BW.
Trend line analysis male and female BW at the same total lift capacity reveals parity of strength when females weigh approximately 50-60 kg heavier than males.
Analysis of USAPL Raw Nationals 2019 lifts in the open weight category (31 male athletes, 49 female athletes) reveals an average 70% advantage for males in the open weight category.
Locus of male advantage.
The three lifts in powerlifting, deadlift, squat and bench press (left to right). From Men’s Health.
To understand more specifically where male advantage in powerlifting might differently manifest, I disaggregated data for individual lifts in records and results in the 83 kg male and 84 kg female weight categories, across the above IPF records and USAPL records and 2019 competition, and calculated male performance advantage for each lift.
Unsurprisingly, given known strength differences between males and females in the upper and lower body, male performance advantage is highest in the bench press and averages 64%. Moving away from the upper body focus, the average male advantage in squat and deadlift is 35% and 39%, respectively.
Male advantage in individual powerlifting lifts. S: squat, B: bench press, D: deadlift, T: total.
The maximum performance differences for individual lifts were found in the USAPL Raw Nationals 2019 dataset. In this typical competitive USAPL event, the male performance advantage in bench press was 76%,while advantages in squat and deadlift were 47% and 52%, respectively.
Summary.
When compared to other sporting disciplines, the male performance advantage in powerlifting is very large, and constitutes the largest male performance advantage in any individual (as opposed to team-based) discipline that I have analysed. Breaking down male advantage to individual lift level, male advantage is particularly high in bench press.
The consistent increase in male advantage in open weight categories compared with that in closed weight categories is explained by the more extreme stature achievable by males not limited by BW and - broadly correlated to weight - height. As one moves from international records to a single domestic competition, the male advantage in the open weight category reaches 70%.
The male performance advantage is higher in powerlifting than in Olympic weightlifting. The more complex nature of the lifts involved means Olympic weightlifting is a sport where strength, technical competence and biomechanical ability are necessary for success. In contrast, lifts in powerlifting are relatively simple moves, with fewer technical limits on raw strength.
The analysis of the USAPL Raw National 2019 competition reveals that the performance gaps between males and females are larger than evident in international and domestic federation records. This provides a snapshot for what happens “on the day” within a single typical competition.
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Of course males have advantages. That's WHY we have women's sport. And no, it isn't a minuscule problem. Why? When a male takes a woman's spot, it doesn't affect only one person. It affects hundreds. It affects all the women who could have reasonably competed for the spot. It affects their families, coaches, and friends. It affects all those the male competes against and their families, coaches, and friends. It often endangers competitors, affecting them, their families, coaches, friends, and medical teams. It dampens enthusiasm for sport among women.
And this is just sport. It solidifies gender stereotypes. It creates a climate where the interests of girls and women are subordinated to "affirming" fixed false views and beliefs. And it empowers men to set boundaries for women.
Emma, (if I can call you that), the article is spot-on and factual, but I think it might be more valuable to rethink what's happening and seeing what underlies these behaviors to pass more focused judgement.
These men have a compulsion to imitate women. It's a biologically-based behavioral phenomenon, often called sexual mimicry. These men imitate women for two core reasons.
First, to avoid male competition in general. They are quite successful with this avoidance, men imitating women die of male violence at half the rate of other men Second, by avoiding male competition, they gain access to females they wouldn't have otherwise.
This second model takes a coupe of forms - they gain access to women, without male presence, for reproduction, so we see prison rape. They gain access to female territory without male presence, to mark it with urine, so we have men in women's restrooms. They gain sexual pleasure at seeing women in intimate spaces without men preventing it, so we have men leering in dressing rooms in gyms and spas. Finally, they establish physical supremacy over female groups without male competition, so we see men in women's sports.
Sports is easy to think of as ritualized warfare, without the death and destruction, and with it comes titles and hierarchical status. However, in women's sports, with no men present, it's perfect, and they dominate their harem, or pack, or with apes, it's called a 'shrewdness' of apes.
Biology has many examples of male sexual mimicry, it's present in all complex animals except amphibians. The male giant cuttlefish can control its chromatophores, presenting one half its body to a male as female, to avoid aggression, and the other half as male to a female in the harem to impregnate her with a tentacle (technically, an arm).
To the article, there is no purpose to men competing with women in sports other than to simultaneously promote the female imitation, and to establish paradoxical male physical supremacy over women without having to compete with males. It's not that they are stronger than women - that's almost irrelevant, it's a given. It's that males aren't present that is the key. It's very simple behavioral biology.
There are many other aspects to the behavior when you grasp it is just men compulsively imitating women - there are many things they must do to ensure the deception is not revealed. They redefine all sex around their behavior - it's not men and women, it's cis-men and cis-women. It's not mothers, it's pregnant people. The create sex ambiguity to keep the pretense up - it's not sex, its one of innumerable and meaningless genders. It's not teen anxiety about their bodies changing, it's that their sex is uncertain. It's not sex at conception, it's sex 'assigned' at birth.
I call the phenomenon, the behavior, 'mimisexuality'.
Of course males have advantages. That's WHY we have women's sport. And no, it isn't a minuscule problem. Why? When a male takes a woman's spot, it doesn't affect only one person. It affects hundreds. It affects all the women who could have reasonably competed for the spot. It affects their families, coaches, and friends. It affects all those the male competes against and their families, coaches, and friends. It often endangers competitors, affecting them, their families, coaches, friends, and medical teams. It dampens enthusiasm for sport among women.
And this is just sport. It solidifies gender stereotypes. It creates a climate where the interests of girls and women are subordinated to "affirming" fixed false views and beliefs. And it empowers men to set boundaries for women.
Emma, (if I can call you that), the article is spot-on and factual, but I think it might be more valuable to rethink what's happening and seeing what underlies these behaviors to pass more focused judgement.
These men have a compulsion to imitate women. It's a biologically-based behavioral phenomenon, often called sexual mimicry. These men imitate women for two core reasons.
First, to avoid male competition in general. They are quite successful with this avoidance, men imitating women die of male violence at half the rate of other men Second, by avoiding male competition, they gain access to females they wouldn't have otherwise.
This second model takes a coupe of forms - they gain access to women, without male presence, for reproduction, so we see prison rape. They gain access to female territory without male presence, to mark it with urine, so we have men in women's restrooms. They gain sexual pleasure at seeing women in intimate spaces without men preventing it, so we have men leering in dressing rooms in gyms and spas. Finally, they establish physical supremacy over female groups without male competition, so we see men in women's sports.
Sports is easy to think of as ritualized warfare, without the death and destruction, and with it comes titles and hierarchical status. However, in women's sports, with no men present, it's perfect, and they dominate their harem, or pack, or with apes, it's called a 'shrewdness' of apes.
Biology has many examples of male sexual mimicry, it's present in all complex animals except amphibians. The male giant cuttlefish can control its chromatophores, presenting one half its body to a male as female, to avoid aggression, and the other half as male to a female in the harem to impregnate her with a tentacle (technically, an arm).
To the article, there is no purpose to men competing with women in sports other than to simultaneously promote the female imitation, and to establish paradoxical male physical supremacy over women without having to compete with males. It's not that they are stronger than women - that's almost irrelevant, it's a given. It's that males aren't present that is the key. It's very simple behavioral biology.
There are many other aspects to the behavior when you grasp it is just men compulsively imitating women - there are many things they must do to ensure the deception is not revealed. They redefine all sex around their behavior - it's not men and women, it's cis-men and cis-women. It's not mothers, it's pregnant people. The create sex ambiguity to keep the pretense up - it's not sex, its one of innumerable and meaningless genders. It's not teen anxiety about their bodies changing, it's that their sex is uncertain. It's not sex at conception, it's sex 'assigned' at birth.
I call the phenomenon, the behavior, 'mimisexuality'.