Transgender in sports
The participation of transgender or transsexual individuals in competitive sport is and has been a controversial issue. People against transgender or transsexual individuals competing in sporting events argue that they are given an unfair advantage. Gender verification testing was established in order to ensure fair competition and to protect against doping, but is falling out of practice.
History of transgender athletes in competition
Many sporting organizations throughout the world have found loopholes that allow them to disallow transgender athletes from competing in gender-specific sports. In 2004, when the Gender Recognition Act was passed in the UK, sporting organization UK Sport was allowed to be exempt after requesting exemption, in order to have control over what individuals were or were not allowed to compete.[1]
Kristen Worley was one of the first athletes after a 2004 IOC ruling to try to compete in the Olympics as an openly transgender post-op athlete. Unfortunately, she did not make any of the qualifying times that Canada said were required for her to be able to compete in the Olympics. She believed that she was capable of being very competitive in the Beijing Olympics of 2008 as a cyclist, but also believed that it was unfair for the IOC to force her to come out in such a public way, when all she wanted to do was be recognized for the woman that she is.[2]
There have been several examples of transgender athletes competing both in the Olympics and otherwise successfully, including Fallon Fox, a transfeminine MMA fighter, and Kye Allums, a transmasculine NCAA Division I Basketball player, both of whom are the first openly transgender participants in their respective divisions.
As of March 2016, the IOC allows transmasculine athletes to compete with no restrictions, and transfeminine athletes to compete under the conditions that "the athlete has declared that her gender identity is female [...] demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition [and her] total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category."[3]
Outside of the Olympics
United States
In schools in the United States, transgender children and young adults face some challenges in athleticism-related realms: not only is the fear of outing oneself by changing in public quarters with cisgender classmates evident, issues with bathroom laws keep many trans students, like Lila Perry, from being participating in gym classes without fear.[4] "In the HRC Foundation’s 2012 survey of LGBT youth, about 10 percent of respondents identified themselves either as “transgender” or as “other gender,” and wrote in identities like “genderqueer,” “gender-fluid” or “androgynous.” This suggests that a larger portion of this generation’s youth are identifying somewhere on the broad transgender spectrum. In many ways, transgender people are just like cisgender (non-transgender) people; but because of the social stigma surrounding our transgender identity, our community faces a unique set of challenges." [5]
Controversies
Those against trans individuals competing in gender specific sport say that they are given an unfair advantage over cisgender individuals due to their testosterone levels and muscle and fat distribution. Testosterone regulates many different functions in the body, including the maintenance of healthy bone and muscle mass.[6] Since males have higher levels of testosterone then they are able to gain more muscle mass compared to most females, which may benefit their athletic abilities. Most exclusion is seen in cases when the individual is a transgender woman because of testosterone. It is also argued that trans women have previous muscular development and that they will have a greater muscle to fat ratio compared to other female-assigned athletes.[1] However, the addition of testosterone blockers and additional estrogen as a method of hormonal transition plays a major role on the amount of testosterone levels present in their body. Some trans women begin intense hormone therapy, taking high doses of estrogen, and if the person opts to have gender affirming surgery, this also plays a role in the amount of testosterone levels present in the body.
Views of LGBT and feminist communities
It is argued by some LGBT and feminist communities that if people choose to believe in the potential unfair advantages a transgender woman athlete may have, then they may also be suggesting that natal males are better athletes than natal females.[1] Considering men's times, distances and strengths are documented to be better in all Olympic and World Class events, this appears true. Attention and exclusion of primarily trans women rather than trans men suggests that trans men athletes do not pose a 'threat' given their assigned gender.
Famous Transgender Athletes
See also
Further Reading
Acknowledged law and regulation research papers regarding policies around transgender athletes in competition
https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Transgender_Handbook_2011_Final.pdf
http://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1248&context=facschol
References
- 1 2 3 Sykes, Heather. "Transgender and Transsexual Policies in Sport". Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal 15 (1): 3–13. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- ↑ Olympics struggle with ‘policing femininity’
- ↑ "Exclusive: Read the Olympics' new transgender guidelines that will not mandate surgery". Outsports. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ↑ "Bathroom access for transgender teen divides town". CNN. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ↑ http://www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-transgender-community. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Anawalt, MD, Bradley; Kirk, MD, Susan; Shulman, MD, Dorothy. "Endocrine Glands and Types of Hormones". Hormone Health Network. Retrieved 11 May 2015.