Prelims

Half Title Page

Trans Athletes' Resistance

Series Title Page

Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender

Series Editor: Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, University of Toronto, Canada

Editorial Board: Douglas Booth, Thompson Rivers University, Canada; Jayne Caudwell, Bournemouth University, UK; Delia Douglas, University of Manitoba, Canada; Janice Forsyth, University of British Columbia, Canada; Caroline Fusco, University of Toronto, Canada; Tara Magdalinski, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; Jaime Schultz, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Heather Sykes, University of Toronto, Canada; Beccy Watson, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender promotes research on two important and related areas within sport studies: women and gender. The concept of gender is included in the series title in order to problematize traditional binary thinking that classifies individuals as male or female, rather than looking at the full gender spectrum. In sport contexts, this is a particularly relevant and controversial issue, for example, in the case of transgendered athletes and female athletes with hyperandrogenism. The concept of sport is interpreted broadly to include activities ranging from physical recreation to high-performance sport

The interdisciplinary nature of the series will encompass social and cultural history and philosophy as well as sociological analyses of contemporary issues. Since any analysis of sport and gender has political implications and advocacy applications, learning from history is essential

Contributors to the series are encouraged to develop an intersectional analysis where appropriate, by examining how multiple identities, including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, social class and ability, intersect to shape the sport experiences of women and men who are Indigenous, racialized, members of ethnic minorities, LGBTQ2S+, working class or disabled.

We welcome submissions from both early career and more established researchers

Title Page

Trans Athletes' Resistance: The Struggle for Justice in Sport

Edited by

Ali Durham Greey

University of Toronto, Canada

And

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj

University of Toronto, Canada

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2024

Editorial matter and selection © 2024 Ali Durham Greey and Helen Jefferson Lenskyj.

Individual chapters © 2024 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: www.copyright.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-364-5 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-363-8 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-365-2 (Epub)

Dedication

Ali and Helen would like to dedicate this book to trans athletes of all ages and levels, and to honour their courageous resistance as they fight for the freedom to participate in the sports of their choice.

About the Editors

Ali Durham Greey (they/them) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Their work examines the experiences of trans and nonbinary people in sport and in education. Ali is a SSHRC-Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholar and a retired member of the Canadian Olympic boxing team. Ali's work has been featured in the Canadian Review of Sociology, the Journal of Homosexuality, The Routledge Handbook of Athlete Welfare, Athlete Learning in Elite Sport and Leisure Studies. www.aligreey.com. They co-edited Justice for Trans Athletes: Challenges and Struggles with Helen Lenskyj (Emerald, 2023).

Dr Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (she/her) is a Professor Emerita, University of Toronto. Her work as a researcher and activist on gender and sport issues began in the 1980s, and her critiques of the Olympic industry include seven books, most recently The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach (Emerald, 2020). helenlenskyj.ca. She co-edited Justice for Trans Athletes: Challenges and Struggles with Ali Greey (Emerald, 2023).

About the Contributors

Dr Sheree Bekker (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department for Health at the University of Bath, UK. Her current research comprises two key strands: (1) understanding the influence of gendered environments on sports injury and (2) conceptualizing gender inclusive sport. She takes a translational approach to this research, with the aim of providing innovative considerations that are useful in policy and practice.

Eva Bošnjak (they/them) is an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practitioner working in the postsecondary sector as a consultant for sport organizations. They hold a MSc in Sociocultural Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity from the University of Calgary. Eva uses their lived experiences as a trans nonbinary person and former athlete to advocate for creating safer sporting spaces for trans and gender diverse communities. They are a 2020 SSHRC CGS-M recipient.

Dr William Bridel (he/him) is Associate Dean (Academic) and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. His teaching and research focus on sociocultural aspects of sport, physical activity and the body. His research interests include investigations of LGBTQI2S+ inclusion in sport historically and at present, as well as inclusion and safe sport policy. He is a 2017 SSHRC Insight Development Grant recipient, a 2020–2021 Calgary Institute for the Humanities Fellow and was awarded the 2021 University of Calgary Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Faculty Award.

Dr Matthew R. Hodler (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Sport Media and Communication at the University of Rhode Island, USA. He teaches and writes about gender, race, nationalism and sport. He's on the Membership Committee of URI's AAUP faculty union and is the editor for the Journal of Sport History's Film, Media, and Museums Review section.

Dr Dan Irving (he/him) is an Associate Professor at Carleton University in Canada. His two current research projects contribute to Transgender Studies (trans unemployment) and Critical Masculinity Studies (affective politics of white youth masculinity). His work has been published in Radical History Review, Sexualities and Australian Feminist Studies. He co-edited (with Rupert Raj) Trans Activism in Canada: A Reader. As a member of the Beaver Boxing Club in Ottawa, Ontario, Irving is passionate about boxing and is training for his first (and only?) amateur bout.

Dr Leslie K. Larsen (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Kinesiology major in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). She holds a PhD in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sport Psychology from the University of Tennessee. Her research interests include cultural sport psychology, women in coaching and coach education. She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through AASP and a member of the Executive Board of the Western Society for Physical Education of College Women. She has also worked as part of the CSUS Institutional Equity Collaborative and the College of Health and Human Services Anti-Racism Task Force to develop equity and inclusion training programs for faculty and staff and to amplify student voices throughout CSUS's campus. Leslie is a former Mental Conditioning Coach at IMG Academy and a former NCAA Division I women's basketball coach.

C.B. Lucas (they/them) is an Independent Scholar residing in the USA. They research trans history, teach courses in kinesiology and facilitate community fitness practices. Informed by transfeminist ethics of care, their work recognizes interconnectedness and builds solidarity across communities. They can usually be found fixing up old bikes at the local bike co-op or riding with their local chapter of the Radical Adventure Riders.

Estel Boix Noguer (they/he) is a former NCAA DI student-athlete and current rowing coach in California. They were born and raised in Spain, the country they represented at the international level for five years. Since they came out as transgender in 2019, he has been an advocate for their community and the need for more trans inclusive practices in sports. Currently, he is coaching at River City Rowing Club in West Sacramento (CA), where he not only coaches the demanding sport of rowing, but also teaches all his athletes about LGBTQ2S+ topics. You can follow his work and advocacy on Instagram @coach_estel.

Dr Anna Posbergh (she/her) is a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, in the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport in the School of Kinesiology. Her research examines the governance and regulation of women athletes and their bodies, particularly through policies and media representations. [School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities].

Sabeehah Ravat (all pronouns) is a graduate of the Women and Gender Studies program at the University of South Florida. Their MA thesis, completed at the University of South Florida, involved a trans-centred critical discourse analysis of International Olympic Committee documents relating to gender regulation. Their research interests focus on the formulation, contestation and negotiation of racialized gender in sport, as well as diasporic kinship constructions of gender and sexual minorities. Sabeehah plans to pursue a PhD in the future.

Dr CK Snyder (she/they ela/elu) is an Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Louisville. They have also taught at Federal and State Universities in Bahía and Pernambuco, Brazil. Snyder's research interests include transnational feminism, Latin American/Brazilian Studies, physical cultural/sport studies and digital studies. You can find Snyder's writing on these topics in The Radical Teacher, WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology, The International Journal of Women's Studies, and in edited volumes including Transnational Feminist Itineraries (Duke University Press). Currently, Snyder is working on a book manuscript titled ‘Which Team Do You Play For: Visibility and Queering in Brazilian Futebol.’

Dr Ryan Storr (he/him) is a Research Associate in the Sport Innovation Research Group at Swinburne University. His research explores LGBTIQ+ inclusion within sport and movement contexts and how sports engage with issues around diversity and inclusion.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we thank the authors who have contributed to Trans Athletes’ Resistance: The Struggle for Justice in Sport. We recognize the invaluable work done by these pioneering scholars, especially the trans athletes, activists and allies whose voices are heard in the following chapters.

We also thank Katy Mathers, Abinaya Chinnasamy and the team at Emerald Publishing for their support and commitment to this project. We gratefully acknowledge the research grant awarded to us by the Senior College of the University of Toronto.

As always, Helen would like to thank her children and her partner, Liz, for love and support, and Liz for her usual excellent proofreading. Finally, thank you to my co-author and editor Ali Greey – it was a pleasure to work with you again on this book.

Ali would like to thank Lorraine, Mer, Krystal and Heather for their encouragement and support. Ali would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the following for their mentorship and support: Lee Airton, Anna Baeth, Caroline Fusco, Jessica Fields, Jen Gilbert, David Pereira, Chris Mosier, Ellie Roscher and Boba Samuels. Editing these volumes with Helen has been a dream come true for a junior scholar like me. Thank you, Helen, for your mentorship and friendship.