Fallon Fox, a transgender mixed martial arts athlete, is demanding an apology from a comedian and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) commentator, Joe Rogan, over a series of insulting comments.

Last week, Fox took to the internet to respond to Rogan’s remarks, which were made after she came out. In doing so, she took on her toughest opponent: the continued misrepresentation of transgender athletes.



Fox, who had sex reassignment surgery in 2006, began her MMA career in 2012 and came out in 2013. Within and without the world of MMA, some hailed her as an LGBT icon, seeing her decision as a milestone in the growing visibility of the transgender community. Others questioned if she should be allowed to fight other women – as she did twice before coming out – because she was born in a male body.



Rogan, a comedian best known for appearing in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio and hosting the reality show Fear Factor, in which he encouraged people to eat bugs for money, was among the most vocal members of the latter group. In a podcast made shortly after Fox came out, he described his objections:

She wants to be able to fight women in MMA; I say no fucking way. I say if you had a dick at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a dick. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a fucking man. That’s a man, OK?



Rogan’s words would be ugly enough if he were just a comedian. But he is a UFC commentator with a large and vocal audience. His words undoubtedly influenced negative reaction to Fox’s announcement and could have negatively affected her chances of making the UFC.



Last week, Fox wrote a series of guest posts for an MMA website, Bloody Elbow. In her first post, entitled “Joe Rogan owes me an apology”, she explained her previous silence:



The world was wrongfully caving in on me, many of his fans attacked my social media repeating much of the hurtful rhetoric and misinformation that Joe said on the air. I was simply not feeling up to responding at that time. I also thought it might be possible that he would correct himself on a long enough timeline. I figured that maybe those around him might help see him through all that. It’s been a while. That hasn’t happened.



Fox demanded an apology from Rogan, for what she called “blatant misogyny and transphobia”. The piece was partnered with an edited video showcasing some of the low points of Rogan’s podcast:

Rogan did not apologize. In fact, he did not directly respond.

On the day Fox asked for her apology, however, Vice published a history of the unique struggles that have faced transgender athletes. In the piece, author Parker Molloy took on Rogan’s belief that Fox had an unfair advantage over female fighters:

Rogan’s assertions about bone density, being “built different,” and so on have no basis in science. As … medical professionals have stated, hormone replacement therapy has a way of adjusting bone density, muscle mass, and eroding other advantages trans athletes may have. Sadly, the world seems far more interested to hear what a washed up stand-up comedian has to say than actual medical professionals, or sports governing bodies like the IOC and NCAA that have studied these issues.



In response, Rogan launched a series of tweets. His fans once again mounted a campaign of harassment, this time focusing on Molloy:

In fairness to Rogan, he responded:

Folks, please leave @ParkerMolloy alone or at the very least be kind & civil in your interaction. We can all debate without being shitty. — Joe Rogan (@joerogan) November 10, 2014

Fox’s second post for Bloody Elbow provided a detailed refutation of Rogan’s claims. It was, necessarily, a much drier piece than her first, given its discussion of hormones, body frames and bone density. It was, however, equally as personal. Fox’s first essay was written to affirm her existence as a woman. Her second was written to affirm her existence as a female athlete:



Has anybody ever watched the movie 42? Remember when commentators said Jackie Robinson had an unfair advantage because black people had “larger heel bones” than the white men he was competing with? Are we repeating history yet again with bogus bone claims? Can we couple these bogus claims with Rogan’s horrible language that was aimed at me from the video I put out last week? I’m a transgender woman. I deserve equal treatment and respect to other types of women. I feel that all of this is so ridiculously unnecessary and horribly mean spirited.

There are many who genuinely and sincerely believe female transgender athletes have unfair advantages. Such concerns are magnified in sports like mixed martial arts, which involve defeating opponents in physical combat.

Unfortunately, many observers use such concerns as a way to reinforce harmful stereotypes about the transgender community. Saying that allowing Fox to fight is the same as letting a “man beat up a woman” – the gist of such arguments, when stripped of pseudoscientific dressing – is pure transphobic scaremongering. Joe Rogan’s use of hateful, hurtful terms and repeated descriptions of Fox as “a man” reinforces this.



Such responses are not too different from those offered by people who oppose allowing trans individuals to use appropriate restrooms, arguing that the outcome would be “men in dresses” entering women’s bathrooms in order to assault women. Such responses reaffirm the bigoted idea that trans women are just men in drag – or men, period. Such responses paint an entire group of people as potential abusers.

In short, criticisms of Fox and her attempt to fight female MMA athletes are criticisms of an entire community that has suffered and continues to suffer in a climate of ignorance, bigotry and fear. That is why the story of Fallon Fox and Joe Rogan goes well beyond a conflict between an athlete in a non-mainstream sport and a C-list celebrity.

In demanding an apology, Fox is demanding that Rogan recognize her for who she is. She is sending a message that it is not OK to treat her, or people like her, as Rogan did.



In a society that is still profoundly transphobic, Fox’s demand for an apology is not just a personal act. It is a political one, and a courageous one at that.