Transgender Women Research Paper

Transgender women athletes face many obstacles in gaining the right to participate in female sports categories (Teetzel, 401). While in the past most transgender women were barred from competition, many sports associations have created policies to allow transgender women to compete (Sullivan, 115). A transgender woman is a person that identifies as female and was assigned a male gender at birth. This movement to permit transgender women to compete is ongoing and as a result the transgender athlete requirements are not shared between all sports.

State of Knowledge

Researchers have discussed how it is difficult for transgender athletes who were assigned male at birth to compete in female sport competition (Schilt & Westbrook, Sullivan, and Teetzel). Teetzel discusses how this is largely due to the idea that male bodies produce more testosterone which leads to a strength and endurance advantage, despite no scientific data supporting this claim (116). The governing bodies of many sports have created their own conditions to which a transgender athlete must abide by if they wish to compete. Sullivan explains how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created three conditions, containing both universal and circumstantial rules, for transgender athletes; anatomical surgeries, legal recognition of their self-identified sex, and hormone therapy (407). Cohen and Semerjian exemplify how in other sports even athletes who submit to these conditions are prohibited from participating (137). Westbrook and Schilt discuss how trans women must undergo a penectomy to compete in male sports even though penises do not create any advantage (42). As Sullivan explains, this occurs because the conditions for trans athletes stem from both scientific research as well as social conceptions of gender and sex (411). However, none of these scholarships discuss the different qualifications from sport to sport, for transgender women athletes to compete in their respective sport. They do not explain why transgender women athletes are allowed to compete in some sports but not in others.

To answer this knowledge deficit we will investigate the following questions: What are the different sports’ conditions that transgender women must meet to compete? Why are transgender women allowed to compete in some sports, but not in others?

Method

To research these questions, we will find the different eligibility standards of sports organizations using Trans*Athlete, a website directory for sports’ transgender policies. We will analyze what transgender conditions exist in these sports and how they differ. We will use news articles from Time Inc, CNN, ESPN, and a journal article from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, regarding the cases of Renee Richards (tennis), Chloie Jonsson (crossfit), Fallon Fox (mixed martial arts), and Shanti Sounerajan (an intersex runner),