After all of the recent headlines about the acceptance of transgender athletes (Kye Allums, Keelin Godsey, LPGA's inclusion of transgender athletes, etc.), I decided to do some research on the actual policies that govern participation.
There are three main levels of policies:
1. Olympic (IOC) and professional sports, which are the most restrictive and controversial of the three, requiring hormone treatment as well as genital reassignment surgery.
2. College sports, which rely on hormone treatment.
3. High school sports, which is the most open of the three, requiring neither hormone treatment nor genital reassignment surgery.
There isn't one policy that covers high school or college sports, rather a set of recommended policies that must be taken up by individual schools.
Policies governing Olympic and professional sports are also implemented within each individual organization.
Anyway, this takes an in depth look at high school and college sports:
http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/TransgenderStudentAthleteReport.pdf?docID=7901
Showing posts with label Kye Allums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kye Allums. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Trans acceptance in basketball?
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Transgender-George-Washington-player-a-fascinati?urn=ncaab-282180
I don't try to be negative, but I just like to question the actual "progress" being made in moments like these. I guess it is a slow transition that must be made, but one has to ask whether the acceptance merely comes from the fact that, at this point, Kye Allums can be a man on the team as long as he still looks like a "woman". Once any physical transition takes place, he will no longer be able to play on the team. I find it extremely problematic that the individual is not really viewed as transgender, or of the opposite gender, until they physical represent that gender. I believe that the acceptance, or lack of acceptance, comes from how much of a threat the individual is to the game. Since Kye has no "biological advantage" over the women at this point, he is not a threat and can remain on the team. In contrast, one can examine the controversy over runner Caster Semenya in terms of the same argument. Because it is socially and historically accepted that men are stronger and better at sports, the possibility of someone on a women's team being a man, or intersex, is too threatening and must be proven to be a woman. We unfortunately live in an "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality and until we get out of that rut, we can't expect too much progress, least of which in the world of sports.
I don't try to be negative, but I just like to question the actual "progress" being made in moments like these. I guess it is a slow transition that must be made, but one has to ask whether the acceptance merely comes from the fact that, at this point, Kye Allums can be a man on the team as long as he still looks like a "woman". Once any physical transition takes place, he will no longer be able to play on the team. I find it extremely problematic that the individual is not really viewed as transgender, or of the opposite gender, until they physical represent that gender. I believe that the acceptance, or lack of acceptance, comes from how much of a threat the individual is to the game. Since Kye has no "biological advantage" over the women at this point, he is not a threat and can remain on the team. In contrast, one can examine the controversy over runner Caster Semenya in terms of the same argument. Because it is socially and historically accepted that men are stronger and better at sports, the possibility of someone on a women's team being a man, or intersex, is too threatening and must be proven to be a woman. We unfortunately live in an "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality and until we get out of that rut, we can't expect too much progress, least of which in the world of sports.
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