A strange thing happened at the Supreme Court recently.
Justice Samuel Alito asked a basic question: “What does it mean to be male or female — especially when the law provides sex-based protections like separate athletic teams?”
The attorney’s response was startling: “We do not have a definition for the court.”
Read that again.
A Supreme Court case about sex-based protections is unfolding in a context where one side admits there is no definition of sex being offered to the court.
That isn’t just awkward. It’s absurd. And it reveals where we are as a culture: attempting to enforce fairness, privacy, and equal protection while refusing to define the very categories those protections depend on.
Women’s Sports Exist Because Biology Matters
Let’s say plainly what most people still understand instinctively: women’s sports exist because biology is real.
They were not created because women are less important. They were created because women are equally important — and without a protected category, many women would be pushed out of meaningful competition altogether.
This is not theoretical. Sport is embodied and measurable. Strength matters. Speed matters. Size matters. Muscle mass and bone density matter. These differences are not stereotypes; they are the reason separate categories exist.
Separate women’s teams exist because fairness requires more than good intentions. It requires rules grounded in reality and enforced consistently.
If “woman” is reduced to a self-declared identity category, women’s sports become negotiable spaces — fragile spaces shaped by whoever has greater physical advantage. And sport, by definition, rewards advantage.
We know how that ends: fewer female champions, fewer scholarships, fewer records, fewer podiums, and fewer women willing to compete at all.
Women’s sports exist because women deserve a space to compete, excel, and be recognized on a level playing field. This is not about exclusion. It is about dignity.
The Deeper Issue: Erasing Categories Erases Protections
This is the problem Justice Alito was trying to expose. Laws don’t operate on vibes. They operate on categories. They operate on definitions. If we don’t know what “sex” means, then we can’t explain what discrimination on the basis of sex even is. And if we can’t define what a woman is, we can’t preserve the rights and protections built around womanhood.
We can still treat people with compassion while saying that some lines exist for good reasons. Not every boundary is hatred. Not every definition is oppression. A society can be kind without being confused. But confusion always comes at a cost. Usually, the cost is paid by the people the protections were designed to serve.
Boys and Girls Need Sacred Spaces to Grow
The sports debate gets headlines, but the same instinct to erase categories is showing up elsewhere — especially in childhood and adolescence, where identity is being shaped.
Boys and girls need spaces where they can grow into manhood and womanhood with clarity, support, and purpose.
But as a culture, we have been steadily removing the fences around those spaces. For example, Scouting America made the decision to allow girls into what was historically a boy-focused space. Many people assume that was simply an upgrade — “inclusion” — a step toward equality.
But equality is not always achieved by combining everything. Sometimes the result isn’t equal access — it’s the loss of the very environment that made growth possible in the first place.
That is one reason Trail Life USA exists. We like to say that the “Y Matters,” because there’s a “why” behind the Y chromosome. This isn’t a political statement, but a commitment to providing a space where boys are formed with intention, where character is built through challenge, service, and responsibility.
When you erase sex-based spaces, you don’t create a more enlightened society. You create a more disoriented one. And children cannot flourish in a world where nothing is solid.
We’ve Seen This Before: The “Color Blind” Experiment
In a way, this moment reminds me of the cultural push decades ago to be “color blind.” The idea sounded noble, but ignoring differences did not heal the division. It often replaced understanding with avoidance and flattened real histories and experiences.
The better path has always been honest acknowledgment paired with genuine respect. When people can recognize differences without fear or hostility, they can actually learn to value one another more deeply.
The irony is that real unity is rarely built by pretending we’re identical. It’s built when we’re secure enough to name our differences, honor them, and live with them in peace.
That’s what we need now with sex. We’ve tried “sex blindness.” We’ve tried pretending biology is incidental. We’ve tried acting as if categories are merely preferences.
But women’s sports still require categories. Privacy still requires categories. Childhood formation still requires categories. Fairness still requires categories. Reality keeps reasserting itself, no matter how many times we attempt to redefine it.
A Culture That Won’t Define Reality Can’t Protect Anyone
The most sobering part of the Supreme Court exchange wasn’t the politics. It was the admission: “We do not have a definition for the court.” That is what happens when a society abandons truth in the name of feelings.
You cannot build fair systems on undefined terms. You cannot preserve protections by dissolving categories. You cannot raise confident children in a world that refuses to tell them what anything is. And you cannot keep women’s sports meaningful while refusing to define what a woman is.
Because when we lose the categories, we lose the protections. And when we lose the protections, the most vulnerable are the first to pay the price.
Clarity isn’t hate. It’s the beginning of justice.
Mark Hancock is the CEO of Trail Life USA, a character, leadership, and adventure organization that is both Christ-centered and boy-focused. Trail Life USA partners with churches and parents across America as the premier national character development organization for young men, which produces generations of godly and responsible husbands, fathers, and citizens. In over 1,250 churches in all 50 states, and over 60,000 members, fathers and sons are connecting, relationships are deepening, and legacies are beginning as a new generation of godly leaders rises.