Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport


Book Description

While efforts to include gay and lesbian athletes in competitive sport have received significant attention, it is only recently that we have begun examining 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 relationship between sport and gender, politics, identity and ethics.




Sporting Gender


Book Description

The Tokyo Olympic Games are likely to feature the first transgender athlete, a topic that will be highly contentious during the competition. But transgender and intersex athletes such as Laurel Hubbard, Tifanny Abreu, and Caster Semenya didn’t just turn up overnight. Both intersex and transgender athletes have been newsworthy stories for decades. In Sporting Gender: The History, Science, and Stories of Transgender and Intersex Athletes, Joanna Harper provides an in-depth examination of why gender diverse athletes are so controversial. She not only delves into the history of these athletes and their personal stories, but also explains in a highly accessible manner the science behind their gender diversity and why the science is important for regulatory committees—and the general public—to consider when evaluating sports performance. Sporting Gender gives the reader a perspective that is both broad in scope and yet detailed enough to grasp the nuances that are central in understanding the controversies over intersex and transgender athletes. Featuring personal investigations from the author, who has had first-person access to some of the most significant recent developments in this complex arena, this book provides fascinating insight into sex, gender, and sports.




Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport


Book Description

While efforts to include gay and lesbian athletes in competitive sport have received significant attention, it is only recently that we have begun examining 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 relationship between sport and gender, politics, identity and ethics.




The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education


Book Description

This handbook provides an original, comprehensive and unparalleled overview of feminist scholarship in sport, leisure and physical education. It captures the complexities of past, current and future developments in feminism while highlighting its theoretical, methodological and empirical applications. It also critically engages with policy and practice issues for women and girls taking part in sport and leisure pursuits and in physical education provision. The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education is international in scope and includes the work of established and emerging feminist scholars. It will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, gender studies, sport sciences, and sports business and management.




Proud to Play


Book Description

The 2018 Winter Olympics marked a milestone for LGBTQ+ athletes. Thirteen athletes out of 3,000 competitors were out and proud — nearly double the number who felt comfortable sharing their sexuality four years earlier at the Sochi Games. Many athletes stay closeted for their entire sports careers, often unable to compete at their highest ability because of the shame and self-doubt they feel in not being true to their orientation or identity. But coming out still means facing harassment from fans, teammates, opponents, and the media, and a lack of sponsorship opportunities. While organizations like You Can Play, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Eagle Canada have made progress in recent years in promoting inclusivity at the grassroots and elite sporting levels, there is still much work to be done to ensure all athletes feel safe being their authentic selves. Athletes profiled include swimmer Mark Tewksbury, rhythmic gymnast Rose Cossar, professional hockey player Brock McGillis, speed skater Anastasia Bucsis, pairs figure skater Eric Radford, volleyball players Betty Baxter and Christopher Voth and hockey player Angela James. Generously illustrated with photographs and given context by an overview of the history of LGBTQ+ athletes in Canada, this book will make all young sports enthusiasts and competitors proud to play.




Sex Testing


Book Description

In 1968, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented sex testing for female athletes at that year's Games. When it became clear that testing regimes failed to delineate a sex divide, the IOC began to test for gender--a shift that allowed the organization to control the very idea of womanhood. Ranging from Cold War tensions to gender anxiety to controversies around doping, Lindsay Parks Pieper explores sex testing in sport from the 1930s to the early 2000s. Pieper examines how the IOC in particular insisted on a misguided binary notion of gender that privileged Western norms. Testing evolved into a tool to identify--and eliminate--athletes the IOC deemed too strong, too fast, or too successful. Pieper shows how this system punished gifted women while hindering the development of women's athletics for decades. She also reveals how the flawed notions behind testing--ideas often sexist, racist, or ridiculous--degraded the very idea of female athleticism.




Sport, Ethics and Philosophy


Book Description

This book represents a bold statement concerning the excitement and energy of the field of sports ethics and philosophy in contemporary terms. It is comprised of a collection of commissioned essays from the leading international scholars in the field to celebrate the ten year editorship of Mike McNamee for the journal: Sport, Ethics and Philosophy. The collection includes essays familiar sport philosophers on work about the nature and nuances of sports and games playing, winning and losing, role models and strategic fouling. It also celebrates in phenomenological terms the complex and heterogeneous experience and values of sports in both phenomenological and analytic modes. Finally, it addresses the most serious threats to sport integrity and governance, in the shape of doping, and the unchecked power of sports institutions, and the charisma of sport that is at the mercy of commercialism. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy.




LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field


Book Description

In 2015, the world watched as soccer star Abby Wambach kissed her wife after the US women's World Cup victory. Milwaukee Brewers' minor league first baseman David Denson came out as gay. And Caitlyn (born Bruce) Jenner, an Olympic decathlete, came out as transgender. It hasn't always been this way. Many great athletes have stayed in the closet their whole lives, or at least until retirement. Social attitudes, institutional policies, and laws are slow to change, but they are catching up. Together, athletes, families, educators, allies, and fans are pushing for competitive equity so that every athlete, regardless of identity, can have the opportunity to play at their very best.




Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Trans (But Were Afraid to Ask)


Book Description

Leading activist and essayist Brynn Tannehill tells you everything you ever wanted to know about transgender issues but were afraid to ask. The book aims to break down deeply held misconceptions about trans people across all aspects of life, from politics, law and culture, through to science, religion and mental health, to provide readers with a deeper understanding of what it means to be trans. The book walks the reader through transgender issues, starting with "What does transgender mean?" before moving on to more complex topics including growing up trans, dating and sex, medical and mental health, and debates around gender and feminism. Brynn also challenges deliberately deceptive information about transgender people being put out into the public sphere. Transphobic myths are debunked and biased research, bad statistics and bad science are carefully and clearly refuted. This important and engaging book enables any reader to become informed the most critical public conversations around transgender people, and become a better ally as a result.




The Transgender Handbook


Book Description

Editor Biography: Walter Pierre Bouman, MD, PhD, is Head of Service at the National Centre for Transgender Health in Nottingham, United Kingdom; he is a medical specialist and an accredited sexologist, psychotherapist and supervisor. His work and practice focus on hormone prescribing and providing psychological support, with a particular interest in the aging population. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Transgenderism. Walter serves the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) as Treasurer and Executive Board Member. Book Description: This handbook is written for transgender people, their families and friends; for professionals who in their day-to-day job may encounter transgender people; and for students, teachers, educators, academics, and members of the public at large with an interest in transgender people. This handbook gives an in-depth overview on a wide spectrum of issues encountered by transgender people, from childhood to later on in life. Key topics addressed include medical and surgical treatments, access to transgender health care, sexuality, mental health issues, fertility, education, and employment. This practical guide is written in a clear and concise manner by more than 40 international specialists in the field of transgender health and well-being. This essential text is extensively referenced and illustrated, and informs the reader on a broad range of important gender-affirming issues. Target Audience: This Handbook is written for transgender people, their families and friends; for professionals who in their day-to-day job may encounter transgender people; and for students, teachers, educators, academics, and members of the public at large with an interest in transgender people. This Handbook gives an in-depth overview on a wide spectrum of issues encountered by transgender people, from childhood to late life. Key topics addressed include medical and surgical treatments, access to transgender health care, sexuality, mental health issues, fertility, education, and employment. This practical guide is written in clear and concise lay language by more than 40 international specialists in the field of transgender health and well being. This essential text is extensively referenced and illustrated, and instructs the reader on a broad range of important gender-affirming issues.