2
Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt: Make Note of anything that surprised you
| I was surprised to learn about the “nude parades” that female athletes had to go through before 1968 to prove they were women. I didn’t know women faced such invasive testing, while men didn’t have to prove anything about their gender. I also learned that trans athletes competing isn’t a new issue, Renée Richards was already competing in the 1970s. It made me think about how women’s sports have always been treated differently because of assumptions about women being weaker, and how sports might look today if men and women had competed together instead of separating them. |
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 significant milestone I would add to this timeline would be the 2020 World Rugby Banning of Transgender Women from Women’s Rugby. World Rugby was the first international sports organization to ban transgender women from playing in elite women’s rugby. They did this regarding safety concerns due to potential physical advantages. This milestone is important and should be added because it highlights the continuous tension between inclusion, fairness, and safety in sports and has influenced how other sports organizations approach policies when it comes to transgender athletes. |
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?
| My involvement in sports was never constrained by gendering, largely because the sport I participated in was dance. While dance has been gendered in particular ways in the past like ballet was and is still sometimes seen as feminized, with certain styles and roles being dominated by traditional masculinity and others traditionally feminity, the art world has always felt open and creative to me. Dance is about storytelling, expression, and art, which allowed me to focus on developing and mastering my skills and enjoying the experience rather than worrying about gender expectations.
Although I am aware that some dancers, particularly male dancers in certain styles, have faced stereotypes or stigmas, I personally never felt restricted or excluded because of my gender. It gave me an outlet to express myself and find others like me who loved the art, which wasn’t defined by gender. I actually danced with a lot of males in my studio, all of which were very talented, and never inside our studio felt judged or excluded based on their gender. |
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 – Neutral
Gymnastics – Female Hockey – Male Volleyball – Female Basketball – Male Powerlifting – Neutral Soccer – Neutral Football – Male My choices for the gendering of sports mostly with common societal assumptions that categorize sports as “male,” “female,” or “neutral” based on their traditional associations which is what I drew on when answering each by picking the first natural assumption that came to mind. The poll results generally followed with what I picked, particularly for sports like gymnastics and football, where the gender coding is strongly female and male. However, I was somewhat surprised by the poll answers for sports like softball and powerliftng, which showed differently than I expected, both of these I figured would be gender neutral as they have become more and more common for females in recent years but the gendering of them still sticks which does say a lot in itself about gender stereotypes in sports. |
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 personally disagree with Lia Thomas’s statement because while trans women may be a small minority of athletes, the physical advantages that come with male puberty, such as bone density, muscle mass, and lung capacity can still create a competitive imbalance in certain sports for both teammates and opponents. Although I can see both sides of the argument and they both have great unique points this is just the side I have been leaning more towards. Even with testosterone suppression, some physiological differences may not go away, which could affect the fairness of competition in women’s sports. There have already been many cases that show the disadvantage of trans women and the risk of injury that heightens when they play together. While I recognize the importance of inclusion, I believe the debate is valid and should focus on finding solutions that respect both inclusivity and fairness without dismissing the concerns of women athletes who feel disadvantaged. |
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?
| On the podcast Tested, Rose Eveleth rejects the idea of universal fairness in sports because all athletes are competing with unique advantages, biological or circumstantial, which is innately part of any competition. She stresses that considering only the aspect of gender-related advantages tends to miss the big picture in several important aspects. Examples are the extremely rare physiology of Michael Phelps’ wingspan and low lactic acid production, Eliud Kipchoge’s perfect biomechanics and high-altitude upbringing, and those who are wealthy which can enable the use of superior training facilities. The very many instances of natural advantages reaching beyond gender blur lines on the discussion of fairness in sports. |
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 that sports aren’t completely fair and that we often accept some level of unfairness as part of the competition. In elite sports, some athletes have natural or circumstantial advantages that others don’t. For example, Michael Phelps’ long arms and low lactic acid levels help him recover faster and swim better than most people, no matter how hard they train. Similarly, runners like Eliud Kipchoge, who grew up in high-altitude areas, have stronger lungs for endurance sports. These kinds of advantages are seen as normal, even though they make things uneven.
In my experience, sports are fair because the rules are the same for everyone, but they aren’t fair when it comes to things people can’t control, like genetics or access to better training and equipment. For example, athletes from wealthier families often have better coaches and resources, which gives them a big advantage. Even though sports aren’t perfectly fair, these challenges are part of what makes them exciting and competitive. |
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.
| Robins said that scrutiny and so-called “transvestigating” of athletes, such as Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, has little to do with fair play in sport or the protection of cis women as a group. The true function, she said, of this scrutiny is to create a socially acceptable pathway for transphobia, particularly against trans women and transfemininity. Framing this as concerns about “fairness” or “protecting women,” allows critics to hide their biases under the disguise of advocating for equality when, in reality, the focus is on questioning the legitimacy of trans women.
Robins also highlights that this way of policing gender affects not only trans women but also cis women, since athletes like Khelif get put under this invasive and dehumanizing scrutiny because of failure to fit into those narrow, stereotypical notions of femininity. But for Robins, the real harm comes in how all these actions make sure that women’s bodies are subject to being forced into socially constructed norms of what is “normal” or “acceptable.” For Robins, this has never been about sport but about sport serving as a way to question the very existence of trans women, reinforcing the very prejudiced narratives that have been used to marginalize cis and trans women. |
