International study will examine transgender athletes and gender fluidity
Paula Radcliffe has warned that transgender athletes could be the death of women’s sport, while Sharron Davies faced criticism after claiming that transgender women should not be allowed to compete in female sport.
But how do sports fans and the general public really feel about transgender athletes and the wider issue of gender fluidity?
That is the question being asked by a Teesside University-led research team who are examining how transitions in gender and gender fluidity will impact sports participation.
Gender fluidity has become a prominent feature of modern cultural life and many institutions, including the military and the criminal justice system, are already making steps to accommodate people who identify as such.
But sport’s attempts to adjust have been uneven and controversial.
Women in sport from all over the world are arguing against the inclusion of transgender athletes. Long distance runner Paula Radcliffe went as far as saying it could be the ‘death of women’s sport’, tennis legend Martina Navratilova labelled it ‘insane’ and former Olympian Sharron Davies was accused of ‘fuelling hate’ after saying that transgender women should not be allowed to compete in female sport. There is a re-occurring theme among female sport stars that allowing transgender athletes to compete in events which reflect their present sex, as opposed to their sex at birth, will distort competitive sport.
The new research will, for the first time, assess popular opinion and examine the extent to which sport must change to accommodate gender fluidity.
It is being led by Dr Kevin Dixon, a Senior Lecturer in Sports Sociology in Teesside University’s School of Health & Social Care, along with Professor Ellis Cashmore, an Honorary Professor of Sociology at Aston University and Dr Jamie Cleland, a Senior Lecturer in Sport Management at the University of South Australia.
The trio recently worked together on the Screen Society project, which looked at modern society’s reliance on screens and devices.
They are again pooling their expertise to examine another modern cultural issue of gender fluidity.
Dr Dixon said: 'Nobody so far has tried to assess how people feel and think about the transgender issue in sport and how it will affect practically everything in sport. This new research project encourages people to express their thoughts. It is not just a tick-box survey, but a platform for those who wish to make their opinions known.
Nobody so far has tried to assess how people feel and think about the transgender issue in sport .
'Sport's challenge is to find a solution. Clearly gender fluidity is very much part of 21st century life and sport must reflect the world around it. Children are, in many circumstances, allowed to choose their own sex and society respects this. Sport will be out of sync with society unless it embraces gender fluidity.'
Professor Cashmore added: 'In many ways, the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Sharron Davies are right - women's sport is probably about to change forever. But, unless sport introduces a third category of transgender, which would not be advisable, it has no choice but to allow male-to-female transgender athletes the right to compete against natal women.'
The research team initially launched an online survey which over 4,000 people completed. They are now working on analysing the results.
A brief statement from researchers Dr Kevin Dixon, Professor Ellis Cashmore and Dr Jamie Cleland:
'Our research focuses on public perceptions of current social issues and examines reactions to published media coverage. This survey sets out to gather diverse views on the topic of the participation of trans athletes, and as such, directs survey participants to recent media coverage of a number of relevant examples and viewpoints held by prominent sportspeople.
'We have not set out any hypothesis relating to this topic; the research seeks simply to collect a sample of candid views. Any presentation of the data gathered will be quality-assured through the peer review process, and published in a relevant academic journal.
'As a University and research team, we expect this research to yield diverse viewpoints and commit to treating the responses shared with respect and understanding.
'The survey is now closed as we have reached our desired number of responses.'
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