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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| Within the world of sports I do tend to have very limited knowledge. However, when it comes time for the world or euro cup, or even the olympics I am all in to watch! I have noticed in most recent olympics (Paris 2024) there was a controversy surrounding an Algerian boxer (Imane Khelif), and whether or not she was eligible to even be competing? I have had an idea surrounding testing within the Olympics, mostly referred to “dope testing”, but I never realized to what extent genetic testing was used for. I was shocked to listen throughout this podcast the challenges these female athletes had to endure. I did not realize every female athlete needed these verifications (nude parades, genetic testing, gender passport). It is heart breaking to even hear how some female athletes had their life ruined after discovering they did hold a Y chromosome within their genetics. I could imagine how much of a shock it would be to anyone. I found it extremely heartbreaking to hear Maximila Imali’s story, and all that she had endured as a track athlete herself. Her story really did display the raw experience of nude parades, and it was shocking to hear she never even received an explanation to why any of it was occurring. I could imagine how difficult it was for her to not only adjust her training to the shorter distances she was eligible for, but then adjusting her entire career to an end in spring 2023. I was so curious in Max’s story that I ended up doing a separate google search to examine if she had won her court case, sadly it did not uphold in court. It is as well extremely unfortunate because Max explained she was not only gaining justice for herself, but other future athletes to come as well. I as well find it extremely ironic and interesting that the actual inventor of the genetic testing was ashamed and embarrassed to how it was being used within sports. If that does not say anything, I do not know what does. Moving forward within this module I am quite worried to what other horrors I am bound to discover, I feel as sense of shame that I never realized the full truth of what female athletes have endured within their career.
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B) Timeline of HistoryIn
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.
| In 2024 there were two boxers who earlier in 2023 failed gender eligibility tests, and were disqualified from the 2023 world boxing championship. These two boxers were Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif. What was fascinating was they were both cleared to be able to compete in Paris 2024 olympics! It feels like a step forward being able to read that they were given the opportunity to compete within the sport that they loved. However, unfortunately lots of controversy sparked between Imane Khelif and her match with an Italian female athlete. Many were accusing Khelif of being transgender or speculating that she did not have XX chromosomes. I feel this is important to note because although it was a fascinating opportunity given to these athletes, at what cost was it beneficial to their public image being respected? The sports community has a lot of work to do still in 2024.
Source: Ingle , Sean. “Boxers Who Failed Gender Tests at World Championships Cleared to Compete at Olympics.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 July 2024, www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/29/boxers-who-failed-gender-tests-at-world-championships-cleared-to-compete-at-olympics.
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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 believe I have contributed to the gendering of sport as a constraint. I feel this is a result of societies values and teachings within sports. From birth many of us are conditioned to understand the gender constraints within sports. Gymnastics and dance are usually painted as a “female” sport. Where the “tough” sports like hockey and football are a “male sport”. Which is ironic when you understand the extensive and muscular training that is put into gymnastics! I feel as I grew up I noticed boys did dance and gymnastics too and that was never weird to me. I know so many girls who compete in hockey and football (not flag football). I believe that society is the reason we are conditioned to involve ourselves either consciously or subconsciously towards the constraints of sports. Children would begin their life with a toy “assigned” to them according to their gender, and sadly this carries on as they get older. I feel that society is slowly evolving away from this narrative, and I hope that we are less conditioned to hold constraints on sports in the future.
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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?
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I noticed that my responses compared well to those of my classmates, this due to the fact society shares this compelling idea to what gender “suits” a sport best. I notice many “artistic forms” of sports are geared more towards women, these being figure skating, dance, and gymnastics. Some individuals in society may just go as far as stating they are not even real sports! I notice a lot of neutral sports are those that do not quite require this “toughness” or “masculine” look, that being sports like surfing. Finally, you notice that female dominated sports are derivations of male led sports, these being softball or even flag football, as it is seen as less “rough” and “intense” for females. Not a lot had surprised me on this padlet, but it is clear to see that society has stereotypes, and us as a class can identify them exactly.
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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 feel that Leah Thomas makes a very accurate and acceptable point within her interview. I understand personally that Leah Thomas has been all over the media in regards to “invading women’s sports” and I believe her situation directly applies to this idea of media and politics overblowing the issue greatly. It is ironic to think of it in the way that people are just beginning to care now when it is a transgender individual, it makes you think where their values and thoughts really do lie. I was quite surprised to learn through this module about transgender athletes participating in sports, one example being all the way back into the 70s with Renee Richards! I feel understanding that transgender athletes have always existed within sports, and there has not been any hardcore evidence or proof that it creates a distinct disadvantage is what makes Leah’s point so strong. I feel opinions will be changed however if they ever were to find a massive wave of domination amongst this group, but as of now and most likely this wont change, transgender athletes should be able to find their comfortable space within the sports that they love to play.
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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 accurately describes the “issue” people are viewing within sports and unfair advantages, and fights it with these ideas of biological advantages. Rose states something that really makes you think in regards to this situation, “we do not divide sports between oxygen levels and twitches, we divide it between sex.” I feel this resonates with exactly what the whole hypocrisy is regarding gender disadvantage and biological disadvantage. Some may argue that sex plays a bigger role than these “little genetic” advantages, however it is not really proven? Rose brings up a study that was questioned from world athletics that testosterone disadvantage only occurs within middle distances runners? Rose as well pushes the idea of biological disadvantages by stating some real life examples. erythropoietin receptor (EPOR)is a gene that determines how good the body is at making red blood cells, this allows the body to carry more oxygen within their blood. Rose recalls a record of an athlete who had this exact mutation and went on to win numerous olympic medals, but this was never called a disadvantage? While attempting to think of my own examples of biological disadvantage I instantly thought of lung capacity, this would help in events such as running, swimming, and many other sports! There is no guarantee that every athlete will have the exact same lung capacity, therefore does that not create a disadvantage within competing athletes? There are numerous examples to examine through biological advantages, and I believe the world of sports needs to stop putting a magnify glass on gender, and widen their lens to more. |
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 Katie Barnes that sports are not fair, they are not designed to be fair. Sports does not have inclusion for just everyone and this can be told at a very wide level. Many sports are not designed to include those who are disabled (whether an individual is wheelchair user, an individual who is blind, and/or even an individual who has cerebral palsy). These only scratch the surface when examining the world of sports and their unfair advantage. Now think of an individual who does not have a disability, but is placed in a lower socioeconomic bracket compared to their classmate. The individual in the higher socioeconomic background is able to pay for extra coaching after school, and play on one of the best teams within the province, where the individual in the lower socioeconomic bracket accesses sports through free community centre drop ins, intramural during school, and only plays for the school team. When trying out for the school team it is possible that the kid who gets private lessons and practice will have a bigger advantage at being “better” and making the cut compared to the kid who does not. It is important to think of not only physical and genetic advantages, but as well the structure of ones life and the many advantages that can come from money! I wanted to not only acknowledge the physician disadvantages that can be present in the sports world, but also the advantage of time and money that is dominating the future of athletes today. This is not to say that you can “buy” your way into being good at sports, or that you are always guaranteed to be better than an individual who it can, but it is just to say that this advantage certainly does help ones case within sports.
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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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