Saturday, September 17, 2011

Pick one: male, female, or mixed?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has moved to allow transgendered athletes to compete according to the recent article, Inclusive Athletics. The only caveat, male to female (mtf) athletes would have to remain playing on a men’s team pending one full year of “testosterone-suppression treatment” before moving to a female team. During the year wait time, mtf athletes could only play on mixed teams.

Although this seems like a monumental feat since the 1969 Stonewall Riots and Richards v. United States Tennis Association to the shift towards the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, how does it create inclusion when mtf gendered individuals are now asked to be defined to play “mixed?” Not all sports have mixed teams like tennis. Most are either all male or all female, unless we look at intramurals, which are not NCAA designated sports.

We should not go back to the days of the sex chromosome test for the Olympics. One of the main reasons mtf athletes are being asked a year wait is due to testosterone levels. I am curious to know if there is a true advantage for mtf athletes versus female athletes beyond possible endurance. In looking at research, other people have been curious as well. Below is an interesting example from Second set: for transgender tennis star Renee Richards, the generation gap looms larger than the gender gap. Her latest book, No Way Renee, continues the story of her "notorious" life.

Do transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in competitive sports?
You tell us. Here's how Renee Richards and Martina Navratilova compared
when they were at the 1977 U.S. Open.

RENEE RICHARDS

Age 42
Height 6 feet 1 inch
Weight 147 pounds
Previous U.S. Open tournaments none
Serve left
Seed none
Result lost in first round

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

Age 20
Height 5 feet 7 1/2 inches
Weight 155 pounds
Previous U.S. Open tournaments four
Serve left
Seed 2
Result lost in semifinals

Figures from the United States Tennis Association

It looks Renée Richards was not the one who had the advantage in 1977.

The waiting period of one year before mtf athletes would be eligible to play on a women’s team raises the following questions:

How would this impact scholarship for athletics that decide mid-career in college to undergo surgery?

What would mtf athletes do during the one year waiting period if the sport they want to play was not available as a mixed team?

If athletes did not undergo any formal surgery, but wanted to identify as something besides their biological sex, would single gendered teams allow them to play on their team?

Keelin Godsey is an example of an NCAA athlete who was born female, but identified as male and changed his name. He did not undergo any surgery and continued to compete on the female team. We may see this more as a way to cope with not letting teammates down and being able to continue on a team without a break in scholarships or play. Instead of allowing individuals to make the choice to identify and play where they feel most comfortable we ask them to make a choice. In looking at student development, this may force student athletes to wait in moving forward with surgery or taking gender altering medications until they complete college.


2 comments:

  1. The Inclusive Athletics article from Inside Higher Ed is very interesting and touches on some the issues that transgendered students face on college and university campuses. Katee raises some interesting questions related to decision points for transgendered athletes.

    In 2010, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (www.nclrights.org) produced the report 'On the Team: Equal Opportunities for Transgender Student Athletes' and co-author of that report, Dr. Pat Griffin states, “Once we recognize that transgender young people are part of school communities across the United States, educational leaders have a responsibility to ensure that these students have equal access to opportunities in all academic and extracurricular activities in a safe and respectful school environment.” At my institution, we have been struggling with how to accomplish those charges and assist transgendered students and Katee’s post highlights some of the challenges that this population faces. Additionally, at institutions that do not have institution-sponsored athletics, there are still issues associated with student records, bathrooms, locker rooms, intramural sports, campus living arrangements, etc. for transgendered students. Many of these issues are highlighted in a best practices article 'Ways that U.S. Colleges and Universities Meet the Day-to-Day Needs of Transgender Students' by the Transgendered Law & Policy Institute (www.transgenderlaw.org).

    The most recent issue that we’re encountering is a mtf gendered student who has started the process to transition, but has not completed the transition. This student first encountered issues last year when she was enrolled in an online course and would sign her posts / replies with her current (female) name, yet her name as it appeared on the class roster was clearly male. The faculty contacted our office because they were concerned that there was potentially fraud occurring. After researching the situation, we were faced with the dilemma of how to document what was happening…didn’t want the student to have to go through this each time they happened to enroll in an online course, but also didn’t want to violate their privacy by placing a very descriptive note on their student record.

    This student has learned how to navigate our systems as best she can; however, at every turn and every interaction with a campus office, she is faced with the fact that her name in our student information system does not match the name she uses and identifies with. If we did have athletics at our institution, how would we handle printing the official team roster for publication of the program or in the local newspaper? Without legal documentation, we are not able to alter a student's official name of record; however, there thankfully appears to be a partial solution on the horizon as we upgrade our student information system and have the capability to enter a “preferred name” on the student’s record, which will then be what appears on class rosters for faculty. While that may seem like a very small thing, it will be a huge step forward.

    While our student doesn’t have the added complications that participating in NCAA athletics would provide, she nonetheless faces some of the issues that all boil down to what Katee so aptly stated in her blog as, “Instead of allowing individuals to make the choice to identify and play where they feel most comfortable we ask them to make a choice.”

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  2. Darcy, you bring up some very interesting points, and issues that I deal with regularly in my position as Director for GLBT Student Services.

    The preferred name option is an issue that many of our transgender students face. Most institutions require proof of official name change, such as on a driver's license. However, if that student is just beginning his or her transition, that option is not available. Two of the three schools on our campus currently allow for the preferred name to show up on class rosters and other documents. The third should have that option with an upcoming software upgrade.

    Another issue facing this population is the lack of gender-neutral restrooms and locker rooms on campus. The restroom is the place that transgender individuals experience the most violence, as evidenced by the recent case of a transgender female being beat in a Washington D.C. McDonald's. The fear of violence is so strong in some individuals that they will dehydrate themselves so that they don't have to use the restroom, or hold it so long that they develop urinary tract problems.

    This is simply not acceptable anymore!

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