The Sports Issue

This special issue draws on trans theory and studies to analyze modern sports, which the authors argue is a mechanism for policing bodies and deviance. Although governing bodies in sports claim that their regulatory practices, which include femininity certificates and a capped threshold of testosterone for female eligibility in elite sports, are neutral and serve to eliminate unfair advantages, the contributors critically examine and destabilize those practices. Authors utilize critical trans theory to reveal the social, political, cultural, and economic implications of modern and elite sport, particularly in relation to white supremacist and colonial forces. Rather than analyzing gender normativity, the contributors center feminist and queer studies to understand sport and physical recreation’s role as a powerful social force, and to deepen the understanding of gender and sex within critical sports studies. Essay topics include transfeminine exclusion from sports and dating, creating a non-gender binary sports space, and epistemic violence in trans inclusion debates.

Contributors: Anima Adjepong, Jennifer Doyle, C.J. Jones, Henrique Martins, Madeleine Pape, Erica Rand, Elizabeth Sharrow, Cara K Snyder, Travers, Valentina Venturi, Pedro C. Vieira, Jinsun Yang