Introduction: The Binary World of Sport

Abstract

The last decade has seen significant positive changes in global attitudes, policies and practices that impact the lives of trans people. Meanwhile, the world of sport has been notoriously slow to follow these social justice initiatives. In fact, sport has the dubious distinction of lagging behind almost every other western social organization on issues of discrimination, whether based on sex, gender, ‘race’, ethnicity, social class, religion or ability. Underlying these trends is the binary thinking that has formed the basis for gender categories of sport and physical activity for over a century.

The introduction begins as Helen Lenskyj extends the issue of justice for trans athletes beyond the scope of sport. Next, the contemporary socio-political contexts in the US, UK, and beyond are outlined. A brief description of the common ground between justice for trans and intersex athletes is provided, while noting that the focus of this book is on trans athletes. An overview of terminology is presented.

Ali Greey then describes their personal experience competing for Canada as a non-binary athlete. Engaging Gleaves and Lehrbach's (2016) work, their argument challenges the viability of making trans-exclusive physiological equivalency synonymous with a rhetoric of fairness. Finally, the authors explain the volume's analytic frameworks and present an overview of the contents, summarizing the key themes and findings.

Citation

Lenskyj, H.J. and Greey, A.D. (2022), "Introduction: The Binary World of Sport", Greey, A.D. and Lenskyj, H.J. (Ed.) Justice for Trans Athletes (Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-985-920221001