Gender dysphoria is a condition that has been hotly debated these past few years — including its impact on athletics. It’s become increasingly difficult to decipher the “appropriate” group an athlete is eligible to compete against these days.

This topic has extended itself to hockey over the past year. That’s because the only two professional women’s hockey leagues in the world — the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) — have two different types of transgender athletes in their leagues.

This only adds further confusion and gray areas to the transgender question in sports.

Last year, one of the NWHL’s players, Hailey Browne, came out as trans. She became Harrison — who identifies now as male. Despite a differing gender identity, this individual is still allowed to compete in a women’s league. In contrast, the CWHL received national attention and praise from ESPN last week because it now has a trans woman — Jessica Platt — in the league. The 28-year-old Platt was born male but now identifies as female.

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This is very confusing. How can a biological man compete in a women’s league?

Although the leagues are rivals, they have both aligned themselves with the social activist group “You Can Play” — whose goal is to rid sports of homophobia and encourage LGBT youth to participate, according to its website. That said, both leagues have essentially the same transgender policy: Players are eligible to compete if their testosterone and hormone levels are like that “of a typical woman,” according to the NWHL’s website.

This is why Browne had to put off “fully” transitioning to male in order to compete in the league this season — an increase in hormone levels would have resulted in ineligibility.

For trans women, who are born men, they must identify as female, have lowered testosterone, and comply with occasional testing to make sure levels have not changed. There is no set requirement for gender expression or physical appearance. This also means if someone identifies as something other than male or female, that person would be eligible as long as said individual meets the given testosterone requirements.

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Of course, there have been critics of this method of trans eligibility, especially when it comes to the Olympics, where the testosterone level can be no more than 10 nanomoles per liter (NMOL/L), as Reuters reported. According to a report from The Conversation, the upper limit for what is considered a normal amount of testosterone for a female is 2.8 NMOL/L, although 13.7 percent of “elite female athletes” exceed that. Still, 10 is many deviations away from 2.8 on a testosterone bell curve, and a popular New Zealand news website, Stuff.co.nz, said it is nearly impossible for a cis (identifying as the gender one was born with) woman to reach that testosterone level.

Not only that, but now men can train for the league with higher testosterone levels prior to transitioning — which can give them a serious advantage. The previously mentioned report said the average man’s testosterone level is 23-25 NMOL/L, and according to the Journal of Applied Physiology, the average man has 26.4 more pounds of muscle than the average woman (72.6 vs. 46.2). This also means they have about 40 percent more muscle in their upper bodies and 33 percent more muscle in their lower bodies.

With only two pro women’s hockey leagues in existence and 11 teams between them, opportunities to play professional women’s hockey are limited.

With only two pro women’s hockey leagues in existence and 11 teams between them, opportunities to play professional women’s hockey are limited. However, these leagues are not limiting themselves to cis women — thus adding more competition for those limited spots.

What all of this chaos and confusion boils down to is this: Women who wish to play hockey have fewer choices and will increasingly need to deal with controversial decisions about transgender athletes. Doesn’t matter if they agree with the decisions or not — this is the new reality, and they’re forced to face it.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.