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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| Something that surprised me from this episode was that sex verification in sports is a thing. This podcast was the first time I’ve heard about this being a requirement. When hearing about Max’s experiences, I was shocked by how they had also treated her during the examination. She mentioned that it was a physical examination in which she had to undress in front of a random man. I believe Max is courageous for standing up against these policies and refusing to change her body, as Max mentions taking legal action will help so many other athletes who have been discriminated against the same rules as Max. |
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 think a significant milestone to add to this timeline that’s not already in it would be the 2000 Sydney Olympics, during this time mandatory sex testing was officially ended for all female athletes. However, sex verification was still conducted, this was only required if there were specific struggles with the individual’s eligibility. Although this is not ideal it demonstrates a step forward to inclusion of gender and women’s rights. |
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?
| The rendering of sports has contributed to my involvement in many ways, when I started playing sports or even having an interest in sports it was still something that many girls didn’t participate in due to the fear of looking like a tomboy or simply because they weren’t interested in it. Due to this my elementary school at the time rarely had a girl’s team for any sports, if they did it would be a co-ed team which required a set number of girls to be considered a team. I was often the only girl in these co-ed teams, therefore they wouldn’t last long because of the lack of engagement. This greatly impacted my ability to play recreational or competitive sports at school, I was forced to play at recess with all the boys if I wanted to participate in sports. This caused me to slowly lose interest in playing till I moved to a different school which had much more of an interest in having multiple girl teams, here I was able to join a soccer, basketball, softball and badminton team. |
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?
| When contributing to the padlet I noticed that I had answered male for sports such as hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, racing and football. While I had answered female for volleyball, dancing, figure skating, softball and gymnastics. This made me realize that the majority of the popular sports and the ones that have the most viewers and world-known events, such as the Super Bowl or World Cup are male-centered sports. I know that women’s sports are starting to make a rise and become more well-known such as Caitlin Clark in basketball or Alex Morgan in soccer, however, women’s sports are still greatly unappreciated and this is the reason women don’t get as much attention or pay as the male athletes, even though many have the same if not more talent. |
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.
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I do agree with this statement because I believe that many politicians are using the fairness of transwomen in sports as a cover to face bigger issues in women’s sports such as unfair pay or even the harassment and stereotypes many female athletes face. I believe these are issues politicians either don’t know how to solve or just want to use to seem as if they care. I agree that Trans women in sports aren’t a large number therefore they aren’t dominating in the sport, however, I believe it is also easy to argue that there aren’t many trans women due to the discrimination and rules put forward which is preventing them from joining. This is why many other issues need to be addressed to even consider Trans women in sports being an issue.
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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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Rose Eveleth discusses the unfair advantage of biological traits in sports for instance, an athlete with higher testosterone levels are seen as having an unfair advantage, therefore requiring them to change their bodies in order to participate. She continues to point out how there are things such as height or lung capacity that can give athletes an advantage but they aren’t seen in that way. Other examples of unique biological circumstantial advantages from which athletes have benefited include flexibility, access to resources or how early on in age an athlete starts training in their sport. All these can give an athlete an advantage in their sports but instead of being pointed out and forced to change they are encouraged and celebrated.
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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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I agree with this because in professional or even recreational sports many barriers and advantages make the sport unfair. As mentioned in this article there are things such as athletes’ socioeconomic background or even the discrimination they face that can play a big role in how an athlete performs or even how they get into the sport. There are many rules in each sport striving to make it fair however there are many external factors that can’t be accounted for which can either give an athlete an advantage or disadvantage. For example, I have always loved sports but the area I lived in at the time did not cater to sports for girls, therefore, I didn’t get the chance to play any sports, it wasn’t till I moved to a different town that I was able to join teams and train with experienced players and coaches that I had the chance to play. My demographic at the time was a disadvantage for me which prevented me from starting my love for sports early on.
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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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