Transsexuals In Sports

The world of athletics has been built around a binary view of gender. The distinction between genders is obvious: there is women’s sport and there is men’s sport. However, in reality, gender biology is not black and white – there is a multitude of ways to be human. The separation of men’s and women’s sport leads to a large population of athletes getting stuck in the middle. There is a growing social acceptance of transgender and intersex individuals in society, however, when it comes to sport these individuals are often left isolated on an island of controversy. The majority of this controversy surrounds the debate of whether or not transgender and intersex females should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Society does not have a

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

“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.

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

Next, male-to-female athletes have an unfair advantage when it comes to having a generally bigger skeletal frame. It is commonly known that men in general are designed to be stronger than women. This is largely due to their bigger bone structure and larger muscle mass. These two anatomical forces when energetically combined become powerful forces of speed, strength, and endurance which are all characteristics of a great athlete. Many transgender individuals choose to undergo hormone therapy to help change their appearance into looking more feminine or masculine. However, in the case of transgender athletes who desire to compete in the Olympics, the IOC has required male-to-female athletes to undergo two years of hormone treatment in

The Olympics have not only been a prized achievement for many athletes throughout the years, but have been a huge influence of societies all over the world through producing viewpoints, social roles, and societal hierarchies. Observing the continuities and discontinuities within the Olympic games one can gain clarity on how past events still shape the present. Recently new rules set by the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have declared that female athletes with abnormally high rates of testosterone must lower their hormone levels or be forced to compete with men. This rule amendment in women’s sports highlights only a small factor of how women have been segregated and discriminated against by a higher power. Through

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

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.

The article - ‘For Woman Own Good' by Cameron investigates sort of some freaky stipulations that are often required by some sports entities along the history. It seems like there was a big discrimination for being a sportspersons to compete in a competition, as some competitions prerequisite certain certification before qualifying a player to take part on it. It also underlined the gap within the competition itself where male competition put apart from the female competition. The writer argued that it has been unfair to make such disperse in male and female competition because the changing in capability and conditioning could not be prescribed to

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.