2
Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| The fact that the people being tested and validated were not given an explanation is what most surprised me about the episode. Although this may seem straightforward, I find it absurd that they were never given an explanation for why they had to endure this. To proceed with something, I personally need to be fully informed on everything. I could never image the confusion and distress they went through.
|
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.
| A current verification in athletes today is testosterone in women. Women are tested for testosterone levels and if they have levels exceeding 5nmol/L and want to participate in global events, they must legally be female or intersex. This approach presents ethical issues because it may unfairly target intersex athletes or women with naturally high testosterone levels, giving rise to claims of body policing and discrimination.
|
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 have been played every sport in the book from ballet, hockey, softball, gymnastics, soccer, etc. I played girls hockey till i was about 9 or 10 years old and switched to boys. At this point in time I was faster than the boys and played better, and being a girl (one of two in the league) I was constantly targeted by the boys. When I was 13 I switched back to girls due to puberty. All the boys shot up in height and had crazy levels of testosterone, and I was the shortest girl in my class and thin. I knew if I continued to play boys I would mostly likely get hurt. Although this was not necessary affecting the sport I played, it did affect how I played the game and who I played against/with.
I was a competitive gymnast for 6 years. Honestly reading the article in this section on gymnast really bothered me. When I did gymnastics we were not allowed to wear makeup, have nail polish or makeup on, thus I don’t think thats something that genders the sport as I still placed 3rd in all of Ontario when I was in level 4. The point in the article talking about how it is all about how you look doing it that gets you your score, made it seem that you must be thin and pretty. But, judging your skills on how you look doing it is the whole point of gymnastics. You must follow the rules/guidelines in Ontario Gymnastics books and perform them perfectly to get a perfect score. You are judged on the skills you compete and how you perform those skills, that is gymnastics. If you look at Simone biles during competition, her hair is a constant mess, and she is the best gymnast of all time. She is also extremely muscular, not thin and tiny. I think the difference in mens and women’s gymnastics can fit into the gendering of sport slightly. The dance that women have to include in their floor routine is due to the fact that we have to incorporate different jumps and leaps meanwhile the men just tumble. If women did not incorporate the dance the routine would not run as smoothly. I could talk about this topic forever, I feel in some specific sports gendering can be seen but not always. Personally I have not been overly affected by it.
|
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?
| Figure skating: Female
Rugby: Neutral Tennis: Neutral Swimming: Neutral Cheerleading: Female Gymnastics: Neutral Softball: Neutral (I meant to vote female) Hockey: Neutral Volleyball: Female Power lifting: Male Basketball: Neutral Soccer: Neutral Football: Male I think the results of the polls contradict my assumptions slightly. A lot of them were highly voted male. But I don’t see it that way especially with the PWHL, and the coverage of the WNBA nowadays. As well as Summer McIntosh, who absolutely killed it at the olympics and in result, had many more viewers of women’s swimming. What I was most surprised about was the voting results of hockey. Most people voted male and I was shocked. I think many years ago I would have voted male too, but today we are seeing so much more of women’s hockey and I will not stop talking about the PWHL. We now have a professional women’s hockey league that little girls can look up to and strive for, I didn’t have that.
|
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.
| No I do not agree with the statement. Leah Thomas competed in mens swimming prior to women’s and was nearly dead last. She competes in women’s and completely dominates and ties with Riley Gaines who was seen to win it all. Leah Thomas is a biological male changing and undressing with women in a women’s change room, if I were in that change room I would be so uncomfortable. There is a huge physiological advantage between men and women. We could eat the same, workout the same, do everything the same and men will still be stronger due to biological factors. There is a reason we have women’s and men’s sports. I think we need to create a separate devision for trans athletes, equity. “You don’t have women’s sports when you allow men into them and you do not have women’s prisons when you allow men into women’s prisons” (Riley Gaines).
I think there is huge controversy around this topic, and I do not want to come across as transphobic or disrespectful, this is just my belief.
|
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?
| I think that one specific biological advantage is flexibility and high mobility. Athletes with better flexibility (especially in gymnastics and figure skating) are going to compete better and have a less chance of getting hurt in training or at competition than those who are not flexible. Other advantages include longer wingspan, height. There is many unique circumstances that may advantage athletes, all athletes are unique in their own way. But, these advantages may not be advantages all the time.
|
Exercise 7: Padlet/Notebook Prompt
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.
I think elite sports can be unfair due to reasons beyond hard work and talent. Natural muscle composition, height, cardiovascular capacity can all play a part in giving athletes an advantage that others cannot replicate. I think financial inequality also plays a part as athletes with better resources, coaching, facilities and nutrition often have a significant advantage. Sports organizations also have to navigate complex issues which can further disparities. While elite sports celebrate human achievement, they are shaped by uneven starting points, making the competition inherently unequal.
|
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.
| I think Robin is arguing that they aren’t actually concerned with the athlete’s performance, fairness in sport, or even the category of women in general. These actions, according to Robins, aren’t about sports or competition, but rather about using the platform of athletics to challenge or undermine the existence and legitimacy of trans women. By scrutinizing trans women in this way, people are essentially reopening debates about their very existence and place in society, which reflects broader societal anxieties and hostility toward transgender individuals. Robins views this as less of a genuine concern for fairness in sports, and more as an ongoing effort to discredit or delegitimize trans women.
|
