Transgender inclusion and the changing face of lesbian softball leagues

Abstract

This article examines the re-negotiation of sex-based boundaries within the context of transgender/transsexual inclusion in North American lesbian softball leagues. Semi-structured interviews with transgender participants combined with participant observation have been undertaken. We focus on the ‘climate’ ( Hall and Sandler, 1982 ) for transgender participation in lesbian softball leagues that have adopted radical (non sex-binary-based) transinclusive policies. The majority of our research participants report positive experiences of inclusion and our own observations inform us that trans participation has already changed the faces of these leagues to the extent that lesbian identity is being queered: it is shifting away, at least to some degree, from assumed biological commonality to cultural affinity. Positive experiences, however, were more uniformly reported by transgender women than by transmen. A number of transmen, while reporting experiences of inclusion, expressed both personal ambivalence about participating in lesbian sporting and non-sporting spaces and a desire for fuller inclusion in the form of sensitivity and awareness concerning the use of gendered pronouns and categorical invocations. Our study documents cultural processes of sex boundary re-negotiation. As such it builds on previous scholarship ( Travers, 2006 ) that suggests that lesbian softball leagues with non-sex-binary based transinclusive policies may offer a model for queering mainstream sporting spaces away from the socially constructed categories of the two sex system.

Sport and Transgender People: A Systematic Review of the Literature Relating to Sport Participation and Competitive Sport Policies

“…The majority of the studies were qualitative in nature, all of which employed interviews [24–29]. The remaining two research articles included an experimental study [23] and a cross-sectional survey [30].…”

Gender Identities in Organized Sports—Athletes' Experiences and Organizational Strategies of Inclusion

“…Positive effects from sports on mental well-being and social involvement in welcoming, safe, and comfortable sports settings strengthen transgender individuals' abilities to cope with challenges (Elling-Machartzki, 2015;Elling and Collot d'Escury, 2017). Several studies have identified safe spaces in sport, in which transgender athletes were accepted, socially supported by the team, and enabled to compete without rigid restrictions (Lucas-Carr and Krane, 2012, Travers andDeri, 2010;Elling and Collot d'Escury, 2017). But as these conditions are rather rare in mainstream sports settings, establishing trans-only sporting environments might externally facilitate transgender sports participation (Jones et al, 2017a).…”

Inclusive Spaces and Locker Rooms for Transgender Athletes

“…As we outline in subsequent sections, structural stigma also manifests through sport-governing bodies' regulations and policies (Buzuvis, 2012;Carroll, 2014;Krane, Barak, & Mann, 2012;Love, 2014;Travers & Deri, 2011). In many states, for example, high school athletes must participate in sports or on teams that match their sex assigned at birth.…”