2
Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
Make a note of anything that surprised you in this episode or something new that you learned.
|
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 add the milestone of January 2025, with President elect, Donald Trump, proclaiming that there are only two genders and that he will work to keep Trans athletes from participating in women’s sports. I think this ought to be included because it singlans the potential for a future shift back towards punitive policies and practices which discriminate against trans and intersex populations, barring them from equal participation in sport. It also reflects popular myths of trans athletes ‘taking over’ women’s sports, further encouraging the moral panic surrounding the topic.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-will-prevent-transgender-athletes-participating-womens-sports-2025-01-19/ |
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 gendering of sport has never impacted my involvement, likely because I never showed them much interest to begin with. I have never personally enjoyed sport a whole lot so I never played at a competitive or elite level, remaining within leisure and recreational teams that were either gender divided or co-ed. I was also raised in a very small town (my elementary school graduating class was only 8 students) so if sports wanted to be played one could not be to picky about who wanted to join because there was rarely even enough people to have a full game. Consequently, it has never been something that has impacted me directly or influenced my experiences with sport. |
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?
| Softball- I thought this was gender neutral because I have only seen or heard of co-ed softball teams, but the votes indicate most people gendered it as a woman’s sport. I think this is likely because it is the ‘softer’ version of baseball (which is likely considered the more masculine/manly version).
Gymnastics- This one was obviously female and I believe this stems from the costuming that is often quite tight and revealing, leading to their gendered sexualization and the ongoing conversations about their physiques over their skill. Women’s gymnastics is also one of the new sports in which they receive decent media attention which further simplifies public perceptions of this sport as feminine. Hockey- I voted male and I was in the majority. I think that this is primarily due to the popularity of media surrounding elite levels of mens hockey such as the NHL, particularly within the Canadian context. Volleyball- I voted female and was again in the majority. I think this is similar to gymnastics in the sense that women are often required to wear revealing or otherwise sexualized outfits which generated greater conversation surrounding their appearance rather than skill. Basketball- I voted neutral and it was close between neutral and male with a majority vote for men. As i go through each of these i am starting to realize a strong correlation between the types of media i am exposed to and how i conceptualize and gender each sport. With Caitlin Clark and womens basketball gaining traction and popularity within mainstream media I have started viewing the sport as more neutral as opposed to solely masculine when the media focus was almost entirely on the NBA. Powerlifting- I voted male and was in the majority. This one seems obviously gendered male. It appeals to biologically essentialist arguments of men’s physical superiority and strength, making powerlifting an inherently unfeminine sport. Soccer- I voted male but the majority of votes were for neutral. I think I voted male because the only soccer related sports media I’ve seen has been of men’s soccer and the only professional athletes i can think of are also male. However, with it being the most widely enjoyed and popular sport in the world I can understand why it may be more neutral than i had previously believed. Football- I voted male and was in the majority. Football is similar to both Powerlifting and Soccer in the sense that it both appeals to essentialist notions of male physical superiority and strength and the only professional players I know of are men. I have also never heard of an elite or professional level football league for women which further contributes to the popular construction of this sport as more masculine. |
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 wholeheartedly agree with this statement by Leah Thomas because it is just objectively true. It points to the fact that this conversation about trans women in women’s sports is the same moral panic that has been recycled every decade or so and never introduces new points despite the mounting evidence suggesting there is a relatively even playing field between trans and cis athletes. Moreover, embedded within this discourse is the idea that if a trans woman (aka a biological male) were to compete against cisgender women they would inherently be superior and dominate, creating an unfair environment. This is not reflective of the reality, with trans athletes placing at all levels, including last, when competing against cisgender women. Most importantly however, at least in my opinion, is the fact that transgender people are such a small portion of the population, transgender women who are interested in competitive sports is an even smaller portion, probably a fraction of a percentage of the general population, so it seems odd to be so preoccupied with their choices and lives when they are not harming anyone by competing. |
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 brings up the question of where do we draw the line or demarcate what constitutes an unfair advantage within sport. She highlights how athletes like Michel Phelps are not scrutinized or punished for his physiological advantages related to lung capacity or a famed skier who had a genetic mutation that allows for his blood to hold more oxygen. These men do not face criticism for being born with an advantage nor are they required to alter their natural state to compete at an elite level. Ultimately this points to the fact that these guidelines on fair vs unfair advantage are arbitrary and disproportionately impact the ability of women and gender diverse peoples from equal participation in sport. In this episode Eveleth mentions that doctors were suggesting that if women who are unwilling to take medicine ought to be questioned since this medication is gender affirming. Not only does this deny these women autonomy but also fails to recognize individuality and natural differences in people’s biology. Moreover, authorities who uphold these regulations suggest they are necessary to uphold the integrity of sport, failing to recognize (as previously established) that these DSD athletes comprise such a minority portion of elite athletes.
I can think of several sports in which physiological or biological advantage is a cornerstone of the sport. As a fan of basketball, it is the first sport that comes to mind. In both men and women’s basketball, height is an important characteristic among athletes that correlates to an advantage within the sport. The taller a person is the closer to the net they are and the easier to score it becomes, as a result taller athletes can and often are considered to have an advantage. However, this advantage is not considered to be unfair and unlike hormones and chromosomes is publically considered to be an acceptable natural difference. |
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.
| I agree with Barnes statement that sports are inherently unfair. By design, competitions are intended to determine who is the best at a given activity and sports are often designed to be competitive to some degree (eg: through the counting of points, goals, etc). Often those who are best at an activity are the best because of some combination of time, energy, resources, and skill, many if not all of which are more available to those from privileged backgrounds. This points to the fact that there are biological and physiological advantages that can make sport ‘unfair’ but there are also material circumstances which advantage some groups over others, contributing to an unequal or unfair access to sport in the first place.
I was never one to play sports much growing up but I often found recreational sports through school to have some degree of unfairness, especially when groups were allowed to construct their own teams. My highschool had a annual road hockey tournament called ‘Copper Cup’ and each year all of the boys who played at a competitive level would form a team together that was essentially undefeated and no one wanted to play against. They had the advantage of resources and experience that the average person would be lacking yet this was not considered to be so unfair that they were not allowed to remain a 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.
| She is suggesting that the internet consistently takes these topics and discussions, removing them from the original matter and convoluting the narrative. Consequently the act of trasnvestigating athletes has contributed to the framing of gender diversity as an immediate and existential harm to sport that ought to be addressed. These online discourses often devolve to the point of discussing transphobia without mentioning trans people, and adopting biologically essentialist arguments that suggest women is a stable and fixed category. Importantly she notes that despite the transvestigating, Khelif being a cis woman has afforded her the privilege of being able to compete in the first place, something that would not be possible for most trans athletes. The backlash she experienced would have also likely been far more intense and long lasting, likely not receiving the support she did in the aftermath of the insidcent. This ultimately functions to dictate the lives and actions of gender diverse peoples, excluding them from equal participation in certain aspects of society, in this case elite sport. |
