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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| The treatment of Maximila Imali shocked me. When they were taken to a male doctor who did an incredibly invasive examination without giving any reasoning or explanation. It’s so disturbing and horrifying that this happened. It’s also insane that due to naturally high testosterone levels, one may not be able to participate in female sporting events. The ultimatum the athletes are given of lowering their testosterone or they have to stop competing is heartbreaking.
I learned more about the issue of discrimination against women with higher levels of testosterone, as I had only heard recently about this happening with the last Olympics. The Women’s boxer Imane Khelif had been horribly mistreated by the media. I’m not sure the full extent of the mistreatment or who exactly was involved, or if Khelif was not allowed to compete in any specific events. I just remember hearing about XY chromosome tests and high testosterone levels, but this appeared to just be the media and the internet spreading misinformation and hatred. I also learned about the card of femininity, I never knew they gave those cards to those who “passed” the hormone test. It’s surprising that every single woman had to go through this just to compete in sporting events. The story of the males pretending to be females to enter women’s competitions is also a strange reasoning for this process to be implemented. It’s also interesting that there aren’t any accounts of men sneaking into women’s events. It was really interesting to learn about all of the scientists around the world working against this rule and also sad that they had been ignored for so long, but scientists being ignored is unfortunately nothing new…
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B) Timeline of History
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
What other significant case/milestone would you add to this timeline? Note it in your notebook along with a brief (one or two sentences) explanation of why you feel it is important.
| I would include Imane Khelif’s experiences in her recent IBA boxing matches which I believe started in 2023. She faced backlash and discrimination from the media and the internet over slander and misinformation about her gender, having XY chromosomes, and naturally high levels of testosterone. She had many people on her side in terms of social media as well as officials which allowed her to continue boxing. She is also preparing lawsuits to fight some of those who spread the misinformation.
This is important as it highlights some of the fight against this horrible behaviour towards people’s gender and shows that there are many people against this disturbing mindset.
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C) Gender coding in Sports
Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
Has the gendering of sport ever been a constraint on your involvement? How?
Or, if not, why do you think this is?
| Personally, I cannot think of any occurrences of gendering sports having an effect on my involvement. When I was younger than 18 I played on all girls teams of soccer, volleyball, basketball and participated in track and field. After 18 I only played on a coed soccer team for a couple seasons. I may not have been too effected because I was playing at lower levels than those who are getting a high level of backlash for their sex or gender. Maybe it was because I was younger? not that young athletes weren’t discriminated but I was probably 12 or younger when I was at my most athletic. Hopefully it is because we are growing away from the horrible mindset of gender and sports, but that’s probably too hopeful.
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D) How is sport gendered in the popular imagination?
Exercise 4: Padlet/Notebook Prompt
While most sports are in fact unisex, gender coding remains pervasive, particularly at the professional level, although with a foundation established in youth competition. Participate in the poll below to share your views on how popular sports are gendered in the popular imagination. Also feel welcome to add or suggest sports that you feel strongly conform to the gender binary!
After you contribute to the padlet prompt, record your response in your notebook AND briefly discuss in two or three sentences how these responses and the polling figures in general confirm or contradict your assumptions about gender-coding and sports. Did anything surprise you?
| Martial Arts: Male
Boxing: Neutral Golf: Male Surfing: Male Netball ?? Dance: Female Figure Skating: Neutral Tennis: Neutral Rugby: Male Swimming: Neutral Baseball: Male Cheerleading: Female Gymnastics: Female Softball: Male Hockey: Male Basketball: Neutral Volleyball: Neutral Power Lifting: Male Soccer: Neutral Football: Male cricket: Male Racing (motorsports): Male Most of the results were unsurprising, however I thought more people would vote for female soccer rather than only 5.6%. I also didn’t know that softball was thought of as a female dominated or coded sport. I also expected hockey, basketball, and boxing to have a few more votes for female coding, as they are represented by both females and males these days. I suppose largely those last three have mainly been regarded as male sports in the past, which probably contributes to the votes.
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Section Two: Breaking it down
A) Title IX
Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt
In a longer version of the interview excerpted in the video above, Leah Thomas states “Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole because trans women are a very small minority of all athletes and the NCAA rules around trans women competing in women’s sports have been around for 10+ years and we haven’t seen any massive wave of trans women dominating”?
Do you agree with this statement? See also the image above suggesting that the issue may be overblown by politicians and influencers who don’t actually care that much about women’s sports.
Please share any thoughts you have in your Notebook by clicking on the audio button above or writing a few sentences.
| I do agree with this statement. I agree that this is most likely an issue blown out of proportion by politicians and influencers. I was thinking that because people are pointing out the few transgender people that are competing in sports and focusing solely on them, that it is assumed this is a frequent occurrence and that there is a “massive wave of trans women dominating” sports.
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B) Unfair Advantage?
Exercise 6: Notebook Prompt
What does the host and writer, Rose Eveleth, have to say on the issue of unfair advantage?
Can you think of other examples of unique biological or circumstantial advantages from which athletes have benefitted enormously that have nothing to do with gender?
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Again, let’s turn to Katie Barnes who points out that we tend to forget amidst all the debate that “sports, by design, are not fair” (235), that “the reality of sports is that we accept unfairness all the time” (235).
Do you agree? Why? In your experience, how fair are sports? Feel welcome to add a video response in the padlet and provide an example if you’re willing. Make sure you include a screenshot of your response in your notebook.
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In favor: I think it makes perfect sense to say that sports are unfair. There are so many different skill levels, body types, athletic capabilities that making sports perfectly fair would probably be impossible. As Katie Barnes also mentions in her book, people have access to different resources as well such as trainers, equipment, time, money. For example, during my open level coed soccer season, we played against a team that had been together for years playing on a more competitive level while every other team had new players. It’s technically allowed because it’s open level playing but they won against almost every team. |
B) The Paris Olympics
Optional Response:
What does Robins mean when she argues that:
“The aims of transvestigating an Olympic athlete are not, in any meaningful sense, anything to do with sports, or fairness, or even with women (cis women, at least) as a social category. Rather, they have everything to do with transness, and the public expression of transfemininity.
For my money this has never been about sport.
What it has always been is an excuse to publicly relitigate the existence of trans women.”
Make a note in your Notebook.
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