Sex Tests Are Necessary For Integrity Of Sport Essay

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.

“It’s frustrating, but that’s just the way it is now,” Kate Hall said after losing to an opponent. Hall had just been stripped of her two-year reign as state champion to a transgender female (male-to-female) athlete in a high school track competition. Transgender women should not be allowed to compete with biological females. Every time a trans female makes the team a biological female is stripped of their chance to be on the team and every time a transgender female athlete places in an event another female loses the opportunity to achieve their goal of success. Recently, many transgender athletes have been competing alongside the gender with which they identify themselves, instead of competing with their biological equals. The differences in male and female physiology are the reasons why men and women compete in separate events in sports. If it is unfair for men to compete against women then how is it fair for men who identify as women to take on biological females.

Women have struggled for more than two centuries to be taken serious as professionals. There should not be a double standard in sports especially if it is loved and played by both genders. Over the years, females have competed against the stereotype of being too fragile both mentally and physically to play strenuous sports. The passion and work ethic of the female professional athletes is just as strong as the males and everyone should be treated equal and be able to have a chance at making a better living for themselves as well as their family. One area that still faces a continual struggle in sports is gender equality. Female

However, women’s sport has always been criticized for not being considered an actual sport, but rather a softer version of a man’s sport. As a result, women who were very successful were questioned in regards of their true sex. Santhi Soundarajan was a female competitor in the 2006 Asian Games for the 800-meter race. Soundarajan was successful as she received a silver medal for her efforts, however, she was highly disturbed by the “sex testing” which she was required to go through prior to participating in the Olympic Games (Schultz, 2014). Eventually, it was determined that Soundarajan did not fit into the category of female as her testosterone levels were too high and the Olympic Association had taken away her medal. The idea that femininity is a direct link to being female is an imagined paradigm created by society to dominate women and the notion that women are allowed to compete as long as they appear feminine and act feminine is comical. The reason that this idea of femininity exists is because masculinity exists and if an individual is not feminine then they must be masculine. Therefore, sport is considered a masculine space and to be good at sport one must attain masculinity which can be demonstrated through speed, strength, bulging muscles, bravery, and is coupled with having high levels of testosterone. All of these characteristics are the opposite of the feminine embodiment which includes being poise, pretty, having a slender waist with wide hips, and low amounts of testosterone. Currently, the IAAF states that the amount of testosterone allowed within the blood to be able to compete as a female must be no more than 5 nanomoles per liter (Chiu, 2018). This is almost about half of what the pre-existing limit was before this announcement was made, the monumental discriminatory remarks directly affect women

Sexism has played its part in many different work environments for quite some time. It especially raises big conversation, and an ongoing problem in the sports industry. Not only does it affect the women who work in the industry, but also homosexuals, and minorities. For so long sexism has been a topic of discussion, but no real attempts at change have been made. If there was more protection for woman and players who work in sports, it could help to get women more involved in the field, establish rules that will protect people from sexism, and diminish some of the controversy between the two opposing sexes.

According to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in [the] Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Because of the establishment of this international document, much progression toward the equality of rights for all with inherited and acquired traits has been achieved over time. In particular, gender equality has made a great deal of headway since the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. Even though this may be the case, there is no doubt that female athletes are far from considered equal as compared to male athletes in modern sports. In today’s sports society, women athletes are still discriminated against based on lower salaries, less media coverage, and lack of opportunity.

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

While the topic of gender has become a hot debate today in society, many people have doubts on whether or not transgender people should be allowed to play professional sports. More specifically, in the Olympics where recent changes in ruling have created various opinions on the topic. While there is great evidence for both sides of the argument, there is a physical advantage for transgender people in sports. There are both genetic structure advantages and hormone benefits that transgender athletes have over born athletes of their gender. The current rules in place were incorrectly made and has changed the Olympics future for the worse.

According to Heather Skyes in her article “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport”, the vast variety of genders that make up our society today including transsexuals and transgender are still not accepted into the world of sports due to anxieties from large sporting organizations. In our culture, there is a ‘binary structure’ which separates male from female. When a person is transsexual or transgender, the binary structure becomes challenged. There are so many exceptions to the binary structure, that it becomes nearly impossible to universalize “gender inclusive policies”. These individuals increase the ‘anxieties’ that Skyes suggests sporting organizations have, because transsexual and transgender people do not fit the norm.

When a person of a specific gender enters a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex, many social and moral issues will arise challenging that person involved in that particular sport. The intentions of the individual will be questioned as well as their personal interest in the sport. Before any of these questions are asked, there must be a redefinition of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity. In order for a person to enter a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex without being criticize about gender morality, society must set flexible definitions for femininity and masculinity.

The gender verification has become a major controversy for women’s sports. The International of Olympic Committee (IOC) has made gender verification essential to female sports fearing that male would be a fraudulent to participate in a female sport. However, the purpose of the verification method is to create a fair competitive sports game for female athletes. Gender verifications can be considered a good method to sustain the integrity of sport, but the procedure of examining the athletes have to be done differently. The IOC requirements are to determine and verify the aspects of genetic and characteristic of the female athletes. Gender verification has not only become problematic but it has harmed the reputation of those who are not male origin that are accused of being male.

Race, gender, history and sexual orientation play major roles in women's participation in sport. Through out the history of women in sport, opportunity has increased. Many athletes and coaches are presented with the issue of sexual orientation throughout their sporting career. Regardless of sexual orientation, all female athletes are affected by heterosexism. One's racial or ethnicity background greatly shapes the experience they may have in sport. This essay explores the many issues women in sport face today.

The adverse topic of women in sports stems from society's disregard to viewing women as persons. Women were, and in other parts of the world continue to be viewed as property of men and have no significant role in society. Being allowed into the Olympics was a step in the right direction for women across the world, but it was meager attempt equality. Women were still restricted by what events they were allowed to compete in, how they were trained and coached and even limited as to what they could wear. A woman’s femininity played a large role in the way they were perceived by society; weak. Women were seen as incommensurate to men and it was something that has taken us centuries to reverse. Today, women are given the rights we should have

Sex-tests carried out in sports competitions and the Olympics preserve the socially constructed gender binary and the policing of non-confirming gender identities and bodies. Historically, sex-tests in the Olympics first manifested in Ancient Greece where male athletes had to compete naked in order to demonstrate that they were