Allyship in Elite Women’s Sport

Abstract

Allyship in Elite Women's SportThroughout 2019, retired athletes Martina Navratilova (tennis), Sharron Davies (swimming), Kelly Holmes (athletics) and Paula Radcliffe (marathon) all spoke publically about what they perceive to be the unfairness of transwomen competing in women's elite sport. These successful athletes, all with a history of growing and promoting women's sport, were simultaneously celebrated for sharing their thoughts on a complex issue, and labelled transphobic for expressing anti-inclusive and transphobic views. Navratilova, particularly, despite her long history of fighting for inclusion and to end homophobia in sport, faced a severe backlash for expressing anti-trans rhetoric. This paper examines the concept of feminist allyship in the context of inclusion and fairness in sport. Conceptual clarification of what allyship involves and requires precedes an examination of whether athletes are obliged to promote inclusive sport. I argue that elite women athletes have an obligation to promote women's sport, but not one that extends as far as a requirement to actively act as allies. Being mandated to act as an ally, without full commitment, does more harm than good. To support this conclusion, I argue that: 1) past and present trans athlete eligibility rules endorsed by the IOC are problematic; 2) the typical arguments from unfairness and performance advantages fail to demonstrate why trans athletes should not be welcome to compete; but 3) a requirement of allyship requires more from women athletes than we can reasonably expect. Athletes thus are entitled to express their views, but sports organizations should be responsible for providing education to all athletes on the science and ethics of trans athlete inclusion.

Female Olympians’ voices: Female sports categories and International Olympic Committee Transgender guidelines

“…Of real concern was that the majority of athletes felt unable to ask questions, speak freely or participate in evidence-based discussion, without being accused of transphobia. This is corroborated by Teetzel (2020) who documents female Olympians are often labelled anti-inclusive, transphobic, anti-trans, bigoted or intolerant for questioning the fairness of existing guidelines and the scientific evidence. Accusations of transphobia (irrational fear of transgender people) are widespread beyond sport in relation to feminist academics who support female sociocultural-political justice on the basis of sex (Burt, 2020;Blackburn et al, 2021;Lowrey, 2021;Suissa and Sullivan, 2021).…”

“…Nevertheless, most stop short of prescribing and policing female athlete's voices and permitted interventions by way of coerced solidarity and allyship (Anderson and Loland, 2015;Teetzel, 2020) and Teetzel concedes 'very little is known about athlete's opposition to trans-inclusive sport' (p. 10) acknowledging 'athletes need to be able to exercise their freedom of speech and not be stifled'. Consequently, regardless of theoretical allegiance, whether to biological realism and human sexual dimorphism, or gender identity theory, there is agreement female athletes' voices should be heard.…”

Trans women participation in sport: a commentary on the conservatism of gender critical feminism

“…This desire for collective safety reflects a similarity in experience to some of the gender critical justifications for separate sporting spaces for women. There is potential for alliance building (Teetzel 2020) through a shared consciousness of unsafety in hegemonically male sports, and to challenge subordination with a shared feminist-transfeminist standpoint.…”

The logic of categorisation in sport

“…Whilst classification is a perennial issue in Paralympic sport, the discussion on categorisation in able‐bodied sport has intensified with recent cases involving intersex and trans athletes in sport (see, e.g. Bianchi, 2017; Camporesi & Hamalainen, 2020; Devine, 2019; Harper, Martinez‐Patino, Pigozzi, & Pitsiladis, 2018; Knox, Anderson, & Heather, 2019; Sailors, 2020; Teetzel, 2020), which have problematised the female category. This paper tries to explain how categorisation works, since there have been many misunderstandings recently that have unfortunate consequences for inclusion/exclusion into the female category (e.g.…”