National Review senior editor Charles C. W. Cooke, on today’s edition of The Editors, said the reason the University of Pennsylvania decided to no longer allow men in women’s sports is that their policy to the contrary was absurd from the start.

“The main reason that this has happened,” said Cooke, “is because allowing figures such as Lia Thomas, so called, to swim alongside women in a competitive environment is ridiculous. And everyone knows that it is ridiculous.”

Cooke said even those who don’t follow politics found the competitions shocking. “If you watch the races on YouTube,” he said, “it is quite clearly ridiculous. I don’t know how many times I can say the word, but it is ridiculous that this happened. And it’s not the sort of ridiculous that you can reason your way out of, because people have eyes.”

It is precisely because people can see these videos and pictures that “the backlash here has been far greater than in almost any other area that is directly or indirectly related to the trans issue or to sexuality in general.

“I think this offends the pronounced spirit of fair play that most Americans have. And that’s why we’ve seen a shift. It’s also why they’ve gone back post hoc and changed the rules.”

The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.