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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| A big part of this podcast that surprised me was that I was unaware of the fact that athletes are regulated when they have a difference in sex development. I did not know that they force female athletes to take meds that lower their testosterone levels if they have an imbalance of hormones to compete. It was inspiring to hear about Maximila’s story and experience dealing with hormone regulations. I think it is unfair that Maximila was unable to compete in events due to naturally occurring testosterone in her body. People have naturally occurring genetics like height or wingspan that help them have advantages in sports that are not regulated. I also learned that this has been an ongoing argument about excluding women with masculine traits from sports, but that those arguments and regulations have been inconsistent. It was also interesting to learn about the cards women used to carry to “confirm their femineity”. The women had to do these chromosome tests for 3 decades if they wanted to compete in competitive sports. It is also crazy to think that the person who invented the chromosome test advised against organizations using it as sex-testing for sports as it is not 100% accurate – yet they continued the use anyway… for 3 decades. He even said the use of the test had become an embarrassment to his name and work. Scientists also argued against the test as women were going to be unrightfully banned from sports competition as some women carry xy chromosomes despite being a cis woman.
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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.
| 1900 – Women first competed in the Olympics. They competed in 5 sports, tennis, golf, equestrian and croquet. It’s important to note the first time women competed in the Olympics when talking about sex verification and women in sports.1968 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires chromosomal testing in the Mexico City games. This timeline differs from the IOC trialling chromosomal testing in the Winter Games the year prior. 1985 – Maria José Martínez-Patiño, a Spanish hurdler, is disqualified from competing due to failing the chromosomal test. This resulted in people questioning the accuracy of the test. 2024 – Imane Khelif – Olympic Gold boxing medalist raised debate about sex testing within the Olympics and sports. The athlete received brutal cyber harassment questioning her gender, despite being a cisgender woman. I think noting one of the most recent global controversies regarding sex-testing in sports is an honourable mention in the timeline.
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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?
| I am not sure if the gendering of sports has ever been a constraint on my involvement with them as I have never been the biggest sports person. I played basketball growing up and dabbled in other sports like gymnastics, soccer, and volleyball, but I never had a huge interest in the culture or was overly involved in them. However, I did not grow up in a household that watched sports and my father was never a sports person which most likely influenced my opinion on sports. Growing up though, and even today, I tend to follow female artists more as well as actresses, creators and influencers. This being said, maybe if women’s sports were more in the mainstream media, I would be more involved in them especially if we saw more coverage and spotlight on female athletes. Men’s sports are idolized in mainstream media, and you see these male athletes being treated like celebrities, like Travis Kelce, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, etc. But we rarely see female athletes talked about in mainstream media.
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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?
| My responses to the pallet votes mainly aligned with the popular vote for each sport. I think when it comes to how the public genders a sport is based on a few different things. Team sports that have huge leagues with large followings like hockey, baseball, football and basketball are going to be gendered as male-dominated sports because that’s what everyone sees in society. Sports that are viewed as more artistic will be viewed as more feminine gendering it as a female gendered sport, like figure skating, gymnastics, cheerleading and dance. Individual sports like tennis and swimming, are viewed more as natural sports I think because you route for a person and not a whole team.
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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 the statement that Trans women competing in sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole because trans women are a very small minority of all athletes. This issue is blown out of proportion since if we had all these trans women competing and dominating in sports – we’d hear more about it. However, it is a true statement that biological males have advantages over biological women, meaning in some cases, not all, trans women would have an advantage over cis-gendered women. But, as Leah Thomas states, this small minority of people of trans athletes does not pose a threat to women competing in sports. Too much energy and attention are harboured towards this issue when there are more pressing issues in the sports world that do not involve sex testing or trans women competing. Issues like sexism, gender equality, racism and homophobia in the sports world affect a large population of athletes and others involved in the sports industry. Mental health amongst athletes is also rarely discussed and more awareness and resources need to be available.
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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?
| Rose Eveleth discusses that every athlete has some kind of advantage whether that be genetics, access to elite training or maybe advanced equipment/technology. She discusses how governing specific advantages over others is unfair within itself. One of the most known biological advantages that had nothing to do with gender was Michael Phelps and his long wingspan. His wingspan was longer than his height which is an optimal build for a swimmer where he can have long strides while swimming, giving him an advantage over his competitors. Another advantage other athletes have is a natural lower heart rate which is optimal for athletes. This is purely a genetic factor that has 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.
| In favour that sports by design are not fair. Since the beginning of sports, advantages are always inevitable creating unfair advantages. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, this is what keeps sports and games exciting, there are always going to be those who win and those who lose. Some advantages are fairer than others. For example, people who genetically have advances in sports whether that be height, speed or wingspan, often just means they’re built to win and succeed. Some people unfortunately genetically have disadvantages in that department when it comes to athleticism. Advantages that are more difficult to accept are economic advantages. Many people succeed in a sport largely based on wealth where they can access coaches, expensive equipment or even just the privilege of playing/joining the sport. We see these disadvantages/advantages even in major league sports. A team that has more money available to pay their players more, stack their teams and hire the best coaches, can often see more wins and success (this isn’t always true though…. looking at you Leafs.)
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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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