Melissa Condon Article Review 1

Melissa Condon

Dr. Currans

WGST 202 H

7 October 2014

Article Review #1: Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport

Sykes, Heather. “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport.” Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal 15.1 (2006): 3-13.

            In “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport,” Heather Sykes examines the gender policies that are used by sporting organizations in relation to transgender rights activism and legislative changes that have taken place in recent years. Sykes asserts the idea that the recent changes in gender policy “do not reflect a universal increase in acceptance of gender variance in the world of sport,” but rather that the new policies indicate “a pervasive anxiety about the instability of gender categories in various sporting contexts” (Sykes 4).

            The first point that Sykes uses to support her main idea is the fact that social transgender rights movements have often times been held very separate from gender activism and policy in sports. She discusses the fact that, while school districts maintain policies regarding the fair treatment of LGBT students within the classroom and during other school activities, the involvement of transgender athletes in competitive athletics and contact sports is to be determined on a case by case basis (Sykes 7). The resistance towards transgender athletes being included in organized competitive sporting events exemplifies the idea that, on an institutional level, many people hold apprehensions around the perceived advantages that a transgendered individual (especially in cases of male to female transitions) would allegedly have in a particular event.

            The second idea that Sykes presents in support of her main point is the fact that many mainstream sports organizations continually seek exemptions from transgender inclusion. She cited multiple instances of sporting organizations requesting exemptions, most notably UK Sport’s request to be held exempt from the Gender Recognition Act, which was put into place to help protect the rights of transsexual individuals. Sykes asserted that UK Sport requested exemption “so that individual sporting organizations could ignore the intent of the legislation and continue to make their own decisions about whether transsexual people may compete” (Sykes 7). The main reason that most sporting organizations give for their resistance to the idea of including transgender athletes is that they subscribe to the discourse that male-to-female transgender athletes would have an “unfair advantage” in the competition (Sykes 8).

            A third topic that Sykes uses as support for her main idea is the criteria set forth by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pertaining to the inclusion of transgender athletes in the Olympic games. In 2004, the IOC adopted criteria for transgender athletes that had previously been used by the Gay Games; however, the Gay Games had rescinded the criteria due to protests regarding the unfair nature of the criteria (Sykes 10). The criteria set forth by the IOC is referred to as the Stockholm Consensus, and it required that transgender athletes “must now prove they have completed sex reassignment surgery (SRS), obtained legal recognition, and have had hormonal therapy for sufficient time to ‘minimize gender-related advantages in sports competitions’” (Sykes 11). The main issue that Sykes cited with the IOC’s requirements is that they do not take into account the availability of things such as sex reassignment surgery in many countries. Furthermore, Sykes points out that, “The Stockholm Consensus does not even attempt to address how these economic differences, structured locally and globally through racialized and colonial legacies, affect which transsexual communities and athletes can meet the universalized, medicalized criteria” (Sykes 11).

            This article is directly related to my blog topic, which is focused on transgender athletes. I found that the account provided by Sykes was incredibly helpful to me in gaining a better understanding of my topic, as well as some of the historical events that have taken place in regards to transgender activism in the world of sports. Additionally, the topic of Sykes’ article is similar to that of Susan Stryker’s article “Transgender History” in which she asserts the idea that, “within modern bureaucratic society, many kinds of routine administrative procedures make life very difficult for people who cross the social boundaries of their birth-assigned genders” (Stryker 6). Similarly, Sykes further exemplifies the point make by Stryker in her statement that, “sport has repeatedly sought to be exempt from the legal recognition and protection of transgender and transsexual rights” (Sykes 7). While both articles sought to expose the unequal treatment that transgender people are faced with, Stryker focused on transgender individuals being denied things such as housing and employment, whereas Sykes chose to focus on the ways in which administrative procedures in organized sports make life difficult for transgender individuals. Overall, I think that Sykes did an excellent job of providing a thorough overview of transgender policies in organized sports. To my knowledge, there was nothing that she left unaddressed regarding the issue.