Discrimination Against Transgender Athletes In The United States

I believe that transgender athletes pose major issues regarding keeping sports accomplishments untainted.  For example a world class male sprinter would destroy the female records, but he'd be considered an average male sprinter. The same holds true for the military based on the fitness requirement for females.  The only people that are going to be pushed beyond their physical limitations are the females transitioning to

Everyone has a gender. It is something we are born into, and has an impact on every aspect of our lives. It affects how we walk, talk, and act on a daily basis. What truly is gender though? Gender is what defines many facets of our culture, and differentiates the roles people take on as men or women. Today, most countries define gender as the genetic and biological traits we are born with. However, what if someone felt they were supposed to be the opposite gender of the one they were born into? That is precisely the feeling that transgenders have from a young age. The feeling of not belonging in their own body and wanting to be someone else. To make things even harder, what if they were also an athlete? Not only would they feel like they don 't belong in their own body, but the sports they want to play or already play would be affected. With that, this paper will look at and discuss eligibility in sports, equality in the locker room, and self worth both on and off the field for transgender athletes.

Before we move into the subject of transgender females we need to understand the physiological differences between men and women that affect athletic performance. The main differences I will cover are muscle mass, amount of testosterone, and skeletal structure. “Men tend to have approximately forty percent muscle mass, while women tend to have approximately thirty percent muscle mass”(Wahlig). This gives males an advantage in strength which would benefit them in almost all sports, especially weight lifting,

Have you or anyone close to you ever been discriminated before? Multiple types of gender discrimination has always been an issue and it’s time for it all to come to an end. Gender discrimination is discrimination that is based on someone’s gender or sex. Many people have faced it in different ways. I am researching the harm that is caused to different genders, the way women don’t get paid the same as men, and how LGBT people are discriminated in the workplace.

Transgendered people in America have made many great strides since the 1990s. They have encountered violence, lack of health care, and the loss of homes, jobs, family and friends. There have been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered in America over the years. The current phase we must be in now is equal rights. There are many variations of discrimination against the transgendered community. In our society we simply do not like what we do not understand. It is easier to discriminate than to try and understand. We are all created different and we should appreciate our differences. The change must come by addressing the views of the public. There is much justification in the unequal rights of transgendered peoples. The Human

Most don’t explicitly look into the complexity of a transgender person’s life and all the questions or problems one might face: Do I use the men’s or the women’s bathroom? Is it appropriate to use this locker room? Those are only two of the many questions a transgender person might run into on a daily basis because of how others would see the situation, how the people who may have a sneaking suspicion that the woman they saw go into the ladies’ bathroom isn’t actually female by their definition, or how it could also seem strange to see that same person go into the mens’ bathroom. These all lead to dysphoria in any person’s situation in public places due to the fact that many choose to taunt or mock the person; however, with the help of Title IX these questions could start to vanish from the thoughts of many transgender students which Blad exemplifies with a quote in her article:

Results show that participants with a background in sports have a greater advantage over their contenders with no familiarity about sports, in applying for sports related jobs. In the case of the transgender/transsexual participants, playing sports helps to deal with society’s biases against them. Transgender participants become comfortable playing sports, because they gain acceptance, and experience equal treatment from their team mates. They do not feel discriminated against because they are judged like others, thus based on their play, skills set and so on and not based their choices. For students and people doing activities requiring physical ability, sports contributed to achieving success in their various fields of endeavor. For example, archaeology students doing excavation work, and a geography student who has to climb, break and carry rocks. In life threatening situations, athletes have been able to apply knowledge gained in playing sports to save themselves. For instance some participants have suggested that, during the Calgary floods in 2013, they swam to safety. They said if they did not know how to swim, they probably will be dead by now. I noticed all participants wore the right apparel, gear and used equipment the proper way. The instructors and coaches were always around and insisted on doing everything rightly with the right tools. Some (60%) of the players had knowledge about first aid and knew exactly what to do in times emergencies. For example, in one of our volleyball matches, a participant twisted her ankle and she was giving first aid by another player and the coach. For the mum whose child has Down syndrome, her child was so indiscipline and had a very deviant and defiant behavior. The only time it is easier to control the child is

The Olympics have been around since the late 19th century and have alternated between winter and summer games every two years. Constant changes have been made over the years resulting in better competition and sometimes worse. One of the most recent and biggest changes has to do with the athletes participating in the games and the rules for who is able to participate. Michelle Castillo’s article, “Why Transgender Athletes Should be Allowed to Compete as the Gender of Their Choice”, discusses the previous ruling for transgender athletes in the Olympics and what they were required to do in order to compete. She states, “...the International Olympic Committee in 2004 allowed transgender athletes to compete in the gender they transitioned to. The athletes are required to complete surgical reassignment surgery and undergo at least two years of

A weakness to Skyes’ article would be the fact that our society is very judgemental. Sports organizations fear the classification process of transsexual and transgender athletes into mainstream sporting events. Although most people will say they are for the equality of others, in reality many people in our society do not approve of transsexual and transgender people. These non-binary athletes may never be fully accepted into mainstream sports if sporting organizations continue to fret about anxieties these

The fact that the discrimination is being brought into the medical setting seems quite unflattering. Although medical personnel had years of schooling under their belt I feel as though cultural education hasn’t been taught enough. Being able to further educate medical personnel about cultural differences such as transgender persons gives them an insight of what and how to treat patients fairly. You can’t force people to think the “right” way or do the “right” thing. But further cultural education will give an insight of the struggles to be a transgender person in America. The medical setting should be the last place where transgender person should be discriminated and the ignorance barrier should be

Contrary to popular belief, transgender people (and members of the entire LGBT community, for that matter) have existed since the beginning of mankind. Sexuality and gender identity is an essential component to what makes us human; these factors determine our mannerisms and the way we carry or express ourselves for the short amount of time we have on Earth. However, there are some that dispute the legitimacy of those who may identify as transgender. This has led to harsh inequalities within the United States, where these disputers seem to oppose the very existence of transgender individuals.

In case you don’t already know, Title IX was a legislation passed in 1972 that prohibits any and all discrimination against females in federally-funded organizations. The preamble to Title IX reads, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Title IX applies to all aspects of any organization taking money from the government, so this includes college athletics programs. While Title IX has been a key factor in why women can compete in sports alike to men, there is some controversy in the sports world, especially college athletics, over its enactment. Some people argue that Title IX has led to an unnatural favoring of women over men. They note that schools’ budgets just aren’t big enough for men’s and women’s teams and that because, by law,

As society continues to dictate how individuals should behave, dress, and speak, it does not appear that society regards itself as a friendly force for the transgender community. Transgender is “an evolving term used to describe people whose gender identity does not conform to that assigned at birth” (Davis & Mizrahi, 2011, p. 238). Additionally, the United States under former President Bush in 2007 failed to include the transgender version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, only opting to include the sexual orientation version since the former president refused to sign any version incorporating transgender rights (Currah, 2006, p 151-2). By looking at how society fails to render effective resources to the transgender community, it became evident for myself to view the transgender community as the most neglected minority that the nation fails to accommodate for; thus, the transgender community became the central focus for my final exam project.

Despite popular belief, integrating transgender people into public environments reportedly brings about no harm to the general public - instead, transgenders are the ones at risk. The issue is getting so much attention that people are advertising about it. An advertisement featured in several popular Minnesota state newspapers received aggressive backlash from consumers due to condemning young transwomen for joining girls’ sports teams at school, claiming them to be ‘men’ who intended to harm their teammates. The