Something’s Got to Give: Reconsidering the Justification for a Gender Divide in Sport

Abstract

The question of whether transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in accordance with their gender identity is an evolving debate. Most competitive sports have male and female categories. One of the primary challenges with this categorization system, however, is that some transgender athletes (and especially transgender women) may be prevented from competing in accordance with their gender identity. The reason for this restriction is because of the idea that transgender women have an unfair advantage over their cisgender counterparts; this is seen as a problem since sports are typically guided a principle called ‘the skill thesis’, which suggests that sports are supposed to determine who is most skillful by maintaining a fair starting point. In this paper, I argue that if the skill thesis ought to be maintained and there continues to exist no conclusive evidence in support of unfair advantages possessed by trans women, then we may want to re-consider the gender binary in sport. Rather than having male/female categories, it may make more sense to categorize athletes based other sport-specific factors (e.g., height, weight, etc.). This may help to maintain the skill thesis while at the same time removing potentially unfair and discriminatory barriers against transgender athletes.

Transgender and non-binary students’ experiences at UK universities: A rapid evidence assessment

“…Spaces of anxiety also included sporting societies (Phipps, 2021); we recommend that in collaboration, HE student unions and society presidents/heads should rethink assignment to sports teams and provide clear guidance for non-binary identities looking to engage with university sports. Mixed-gender teams or assignment based on non-gender related characteristics may be used (see Bianchi, 2017, 2019), unless better alternatives are highlighted by internal research.(b) Addressing a lack of education…”

The logic of categorisation in sport

“…That is to say: abolitionists either do not want a sex category at all, e.g. Martínková (2020b), who champions “unisex” sports; or wish to substitute the sex category with some non‐sex category, such as weight and height measurements (Bianchi, 2019 Tännsjö, 2000), testosterone (Foddy & Savulescu, 2011, who suggest two testosterone sub‐categories), or a “multi‐faceted algorithm similar to that used by the Paralympics” (Anderson, Knox, & Heather, 2019).…”

Paridade e género: uma nova igualdade no desporto

“…Resta assim, apreciar duas alternativas: a primeira, que se prescinda do princípio the skill thesis em relação à participação destes/as atletas nas competições ainda que os níveis de testosterona efetiva sejam determinantes no resultado; a segunda, não se prescindindo do princípio, que se atendam às vantagens genéticas de todos os atletas (cisgénero e transgénero e DDS) na organização das competições desportivas, de forma a mitigar as vantagens resultantes da lotaria genética natural 155 .…”