In a surprising turn during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) acknowledged the biological reality that men and women have differing physical capabilities — a notable admission given her vocal support for transgender participation in women’s sports.
Hirono, questioning FBI Director Kash Patel, raised concerns over the agency’s requirement that all applicants — male and female — be able to perform a single pull-up as part of the Basic Field Training Course (BFTC) at Quantico.
“One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women can not because of physiological differences,” Hirono said. “Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?”
?WATCH: Sen. Mazie Hirono says female FBI applicants struggle to do pull-ups because of “physiological differences.”
Kash Patel: “If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs you better be able to do a pull-up… Doing one pull-up is not harsh.” pic.twitter.com/kD571CRi36
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 16, 2025
Patel responded directly, stressing that the FBI’s physical fitness standards are in place for a reason. “We are requiring the physical program at BFTC at Quantico because FBI agents carrying guns in the field have to chase down bad guys and do really hard work.”
Hirono doubled down, asking again, “So are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?”
Patel reiterated the need for readiness. “If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs, you better be able to do a pull-up,” he said. “Doing one pull-up is not harsh. And there are always medical exemptions.”
The exchange stood out not just for its content, but for what it revealed: a sitting Democratic senator openly admitting that physical differences between men and women do exist — and that such differences impact performance.
That position appears to contradict Hirono’s past advocacy. In April, she blasted Republican efforts to prevent biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, claiming, “Trans rights are being eradicated… trans girls can’t compete on girls’ sports teams in school.”
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— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) April 29, 2025
Critics immediately seized on the contradiction.
“This is the same senator who fought to let biological males compete in girls’ sports, now complaining that women can’t do pull-ups?” one commentator wrote online. “So which is it — do physical differences matter or not?”
Senator Hirono’s remarks may have been intended to argue against physical fitness standards, but in doing so, she inadvertently echoed the very argument conservatives have made for years: biological sex matters. And when lives are on the line — as they often are in federal law enforcement — the consequences of ignoring those differences can be deadly.
The post Democrat Senator Admits Men And Women Have Physical Differences appeared first on Real News Now.
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