Melissa
Condon
Dr.
Currans
WGST
202 H
25
November 2014
Article Review #3
Semerjian,
Tamar Z. and Cohen, Jodi H. “FTM Means Female to Me: Transgender Athletes
Performing Gender.” Women in Sport &
Physical Activity Journal 15.2 (Fall 2006): 28-43.
In “FTM Means
Female to Me: Transgender Athletes Performing Gender,” Tamar Z. Semerjian and
Jodi H. Cohen discuss the experiences of four different transgender and
non-binary identifying athletes in non-professional sport settings. The
interviews were conducted in a semi-structured format that allowed the
participants to openly discuss their personal experiences with sports
participation as trans identifying individuals. The assertion that Semerjian
and Cohen make in their article is that “the narratives of these [trans
identifying] athletes portray a way of thinking about gender as a category that
is transmutable, unstable, and constantly written and rewritten through
embodied performances” rather than as a set gender binary of male and female
(28).
The first point
that Semerjian and Cohen use to back up their main idea is that it is important
to listen to the experiences of athletes who compete outside of the mainstream,
professional realm of sporting events. They state the importance and value of
taking note of these experiences because, “everyday exercisers, recreational,
and competitive athletes who are looking for a place where they can play their
sports and do their workouts, in the bodies that feel the most comfortable to
them, are far more numerous” than the transgender athletes who participate in
professional level sport (29). Semerjian and Cohen also reiterate the value in
recording the specific experiences of non-professional transgender athletes
because of the fact that, at the time when their article was published, there was
not a great deal of other research that had been done regarding the experiences
of non-professional transgender athletes (28). This awareness is important
because it helps to exemplify the fact that the issues that transgender
athletes face on a day to day basis are not limited to professional athletes,
but are instead something that is experienced on an everyday basis by the
average trans identifying individual who chooses to partake in sport.
The second topic
that Semerjian and Cohen bring into the discussion regarding the experiences of
non-professional transgender athletes is the meaning of the word “trans”
itself. Traditionally, the words transsexual and transgender have been used to
note individuals that want to, are in the process of, or already have
transitioned from one of the traditional binary categories of gender to the
other. However, in this particular article, the authors state that they “intend
to use this term [trans or transgender] in its most inclusive sense, and not
strictly to describe individuals who have shaped themselves surgically or
hormonally,” meaning that the authors made the conscious, decision to use the
term trans to also describe individuals who are gender-queer or otherwise
non-binary in their self definitions. The reason that Semerjian and Cohen had
for using the more inclusive definition is that many of the athletes
interviewed expressed the need for a non-binary term to describe themselves
instead of always being pressured to conform to a gender or sex identity that s
considered socially acceptable. The aversion shown by the interviewed
individuals to identifying within traditional categories of the gender binary
provides real life examples of the ways in which the personal experiences of
trans identifying athletes helps to provide an important argument as to why the
guidelines for transgender participation set forth by the International Olympic
Committee are not necessarily a step towards transgender inclusion in sport.
Rather, the ruling by the IOC serves to further establish the gender binary by
only allowing athletes to participate if they have reconstructed their bodies
and taken hormones in order to conform.
The third point
that Semerjian and Cohen bring into their discussion is the ways in which the
individuals that they interviewed challenge traditional notions of gender by
their continued participation in sports. The authors write that, “many social
theorists have stated, sport in our society is valued as an exclusively male
domain” (29), and it is because of this fact that some of the individuals that
were interviewed choose to stay separate from the traditional gender binary in
an effort to help break down the idea that sport is purely a masculine arena. The
authors further speak to this point by stating that, “although sport may be a
way to construct gender identity, it is not necessarily always used as such,
and is occasionally used to subvert the notion of appropriate gender roles and
performances,” and then going on to discuss the ways in which gender
performance has been used by the interviewed athletes as a way to help break
down the traditional notions of the gender binary, rather than to enforce them (41).
In conclusion, the
article by Semerjian and Cohen relates directly to my blog topic, which is
about transgender athletes, because it focuses on the personal experiences of
non-professional transgender athletes. It helped me to gain a more thorough
understanding of my blog topic because it showed me the experiences of everyday
people rather than professional athletes, which I think was very helpful to me
in trying to gain a better understanding of the transgender community as a
whole. This article also relates to the second article that I reviewed, which
was Ann Travers’ article entitled “ Queering Sport: Lesbian Softball Leagues
and the Transgender Challenge.” The two articles relate to one another because
both of them provided semi-formal interviews with athletes on the subject of
transgender participation in sporting events. In the case of Semerjian and
Cohen’s article, the interviews were focused on the trans identifying athletes
themselves; whereas in Travers’ article, most of the interviews were with the
biological women who partake in the lesbian softball leagues to find out what
their personal feelings were in regards to the inclusion of trans individuals
in a space that is held for queer women. Overall, I feel as though the authors
of “FTM Means Female to Me: Transgender Athletes Performing Gender” did an
excellent job in covering their topic, and although the pool of participants in
their research was small, the authors identified this fact and also went on to
state that, “in the future research needs to incorporate larger and more
diverse samples of athletes” (42).
I like that some of the interviewees you mentioned in the 4th paragraph chose to remain separate from the gender binary, in hopes that sports would not be socially constructed as a male trait. And I also like the quote that stated that sports can be used as a gender construct and how that's not necessarily how it's used all the time. I feel like that's true to some extent, but for the most part people do see sports as something very masculine, and while that can be very detrimental, it's gonna be very hard to change that, but I suppose if someone doesn't try then it's never going to happen.
ReplyDelete-Casey Coulter
I liked reading your article review. I've always been one to say that sports shouldn't be about money, and definitely shouldn't be divided up between men and women, but that everyone should just compete and be appreciated altogether. I remember how I had never really thought when I was younger that "everyone" would mean trans and intersexed people as well- But I'll tell you what, now that I do, I really feel as though I have more supporting detail to my claim. -My claim that everyone is equal.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, why did it always seem so simple to a kid that everyone should just have fun, but as soon as we're adults it's all about the money and social status? I do think that more research should be done to incorporate a larger and more diverse sample of athletes. But in the mean time, this article does a good job at increasing awareness and knowledge of the personal experiences of trans athletes.
--Josephine Hicks