Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport

233 Pages·2017·2.241 MB·English

by  Eric Anderson, Ann Travers (eds.)

Transgender Athletes in
Competitive Sport
While efforts to include gay and lesbian athletes in competitive sport have
received significant attention, it is only recently that we have begun examin-
ing the experiences of transgender athletes in competitive sport. This book
represents the first comprehensive study of the challenges that transgender
athletes face in competitive sport; and the challenges they pose for this sex-
segregated institution. Beginning with a discussion of the historical role that
sport has played in preserving sex as a binary, the book examines how
gender has been policed by policymakers within competitive athletics. It
also considers how transgender athletes are treated by a system predicated
on separating males from females, consequently forcing transgender athletes
to negotiate the system in coercive ways. The book not only exposes our
culture’s binary thinking in terms of both sex and gender, but also offers a
series of thought- provoking and sometimes contradictory recommendations
for how to make sport more hospitable, inclusive and equitable.
Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport is important reading for all
students and scholars of the sociology of sport with an interest in the rela-
tionship between sport and gender, politics, identity and ethics.
Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities at the
University of Winchester, UK. He holds four degrees, has published 17
books, over 60 peer-r eviewed articles, and is regularly featured in inter-
national television, print and digital media. Professor Anderson is recog-
nized for research excellence by the British Academy of Social Sciences and
is a fellow of the International Academy of Sex Research. His work shows
a decline in cultural homohysteria and promotes inclusive attitudes toward
openly gay, lesbian and bisexual athletes as well as a softening of hetero-
sexual masculinities.
Ann Travers is Associate Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser Univer-
sity, Canada. She has published two books, 13 peer- reviewed articles, and
is a regular presenter at conferences relating to sport, embodiment and
sociology more generally. She has received over $200,000 in funding for
her research relating to sport and gender and transgender issues in sport.
Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society
72 Sport and Discrimination 79 International Sports
Edited by Daniel Kilvington and Volunteering
John Price Edited by Angela M. Benson and
Nicholas Wise
73 Seeking the Senses in
Physical Culture 80 Football Fans, Rivalry and
Sensual scholarship in action Cooperation
Edited by Andrew C. Sparkes Edited by Christian
Brandt, Fabian Hertel and
74 The Role of the Professional Sean Huddleston
Football Manager
Seamus Kelly 81 The Feminization of Sports
Fandom
75 The Rugby World in the A Sociological Study
Professional Era Stacey Pope
Edited by John Nauright and
Tony Collins 82 Transgender Athletes in
Competitive Sport
76 Sport and English National Edited by Eric Anderson and
Identity in a ‘Disunited Ann Travers
Kingdom’
Edited by Tom Gibbons and 83 Sport and Militarism
Dominic Malcolm Contemporary global
perspectives
77 Phenomenology and the Edited by Michael L. Butterworth
Extreme Sport Experience
Eric Brymer and Robert Schweitzer 84 Sport, Community
Regeneration, Governance
78 Lifestyle Sports and Public and Development
Policy A comparative global
Edited by Daniel Turner and perspective
Sandro Carnicelli Rory Shand
Transgender Athletes in
Competitive Sport
Edited by Eric Anderson and
Ann Travers
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Eric Anderson and Ann Travers
The right of Eric Anderson and Ann Travers to be identified as
the authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-23563-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-30427-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of illustrations viii
List of contributors ix
Introduction 1
ERIC ANDERSON AND ANN TRAVERS
PART I
Individual stories of transgender sporting
experiences 11
1 Advantage Renée? Renée Richards and women’s tennis 13
LINDSAY PARKS PIEPER
2 My name is Jay, I transitioned and I’m a disabled young
athlete 23
JAY ANONYMOUS
3 Becoming me: transitioning, training and surgery 32
RILEY MCCORMACK AND MAYLON HANOLD
PART II
Research into transgender sporting experiences 41
4 An introduction to five exceptional trans athletes from
around the world 43
KINNON MACKINNON
vi Contents
5 Between stigmatization and empowerment: meanings of
physical activity and sport in the lives of transgender
people 54
AGNES ELLING AND KIKI COLLOT D’ESCURY
6 Athletes’ perceptions of transgender eligibility policies
applied in high- performance sport in Canada 68
SARAH TEETZEL
7 Sport and physical exercise among Spanish trans persons 80
VICTOR MANUEL PEREZ SAMANIEGO,
SOFÍA PEREIRA- GARCÍA, ELENA LOPEZ- CAÑADA AND
JOSÉ DEVÍS-DEVÍS
8 Honesty and discipline: identity management of
transgender netballers 90
BRENDON TAGG
9 The experiences of female- to-male transgender athletes 103
MARK F. OGILVIE
10 Media accounts of the first transgender person to work in
the English Premier League 116
RORY MAGRATH
PART III
When policy and identity clash 129
11 Subjective sex: science, medicine and sex tests in sports 131
VANESSA HEGGIE
12 Including transgender students in United States’
school- based athletics 143
HELEN J. CARROLL
13 Transgender athletes in elite sport competitions: equity and
inclusivity 156
ERIC VILAIN, JONATHAN OSPINA BETANCURT,
NEREIDA BUENO- GUERRA AND
MARIA JOSE MARTINEZ- PATIÑO
Contents vii
PART IV
Challenging the system 171
14 From transsexuals to transhumans in elite athletics: the
implications of osteology (and other issues) in levelling the
playing field 173
MICHELLE A. B. SUTHERLAND, RICHARD J. WASSERSUG
AND KAREN R. ROSENBERG
15 The tenuous inclusion of transgender athletes in sport 194
ADAM LOVE
16 Queer genes? The Bio-A mazons project: a response to
critics 206
CLAUDIO TAMBURRINI
Index 218
Illustrations
Figures
7.1 Participation in SPE by gender 82
7.2 Participation in main types of SPE 83
7.3 Participation in individual SPE 83
7.4 Participation in collective SPE 84
14.1 The Q- angle is the angle between the vector that
represents the force of the quadriceps muscles and the
direction of pull of the patellar tendon 179
14.2 Because of the average difference in the Q angles
between males and females, the force available for the
extension of the knee differs even if they have identical
musculature 181
14.3 Males and females also differ in the average carrying
angle at the elbow, which is due to the fact that the
humerus and ulna (like the femur and tibia in the lower
limb) are not in a straight line 182
14.4 The largest average osteological differences between
males and females are in the pelvis 184
Tables
13.1 Evolution of the sex testing and gender verification
policy 159
Contributors
Jay Anonymous
Jonathan Ospina Betancurt, The Technical University of Madrid, Spain.
Nereida Bueno- Guerra, University of Barcelona, Spain.
Helen J. Carroll, National Center for Lesbian Rights, USA.
José Devís-Devís, University of Valencia, Spain.
Agnes Elling, Mulier Instituut, Netherlands.
Kiki Collot d’Escury, Mulier Instituut, Netherlands.
Maylon Hanold, Seattle University, USA.
Vanessa Heggie, Birmingham University, UK.
Elena Lopez-C añada, University of Valencia, Spain.
Adam Love, Mississippi State University, USA.
Kinnon MacKinnon, University of Toronto, Canada.
Rory Magrath, Southampton Solent University, UK.
Maria Jose Martinez- Patiño, University of Vigo, Spain.
Riley McCormack, Seattle University, USA.
Mark F. Ogilvie, Durham University, UK.
Sofía Pereira- García, University of Valencia, Spain.
Lindsay Parks Pieper, Lynchburg College, USA.
Karen R. Rosenberg, University of Delaware, USA.
Victor Manuel Perez Samaniego, University of Valencia, Spain.
Michelle A. B. Sutherland, Georgetown University, USA.