horace mann school's publication for gender issues

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sports
Equitable
Athletics:
Gender
Identity in
Track
BY COURTNEY HODRICK
Canadian runner Jennifer
McCreath is busy training for her
25 th marathon, the Newfoundland
Provincial Marathon on September
26 th. The race will be her first of the
fall, after she raced five in April and
May, including the famous Boston
Marathon. However, training isn’t
all she’s been up to. As a part-op
transitioning transsexual woman,
McCreath is also undertaking the
process of medically adjusting her
sex organs and hormones from
the male body she was born with
to a body that matches her selfidentification
as female. Since
2007, when McCreath realized
her gender identity and began
her transition at the same time as
she began running, the increasing
number of openly transsexual
runners has helped begin to
change the face of the sport. In
summer of 2009 and again this
summer, McCreath competed at
Coppenhagen’s World Outgames
not in the male or female
categories, but in a third category
reserved for athletes in transition.
This new category enables runners
to compete who were historically
sidelined by the International
Olympic Committee’s rule
mandating that all transsexual
athletes wait to compete until two
years after competing their full
medical transition.
Uniform Inequity:
The Dangers of
Female Sports Attire
BY JASMINE AGHRAVI
Have you ever thought about what your sport requires you to wear Did that
uniform ever affect your decision on joining a particular sport because you felt
uncomfortable Uniforms are beginning to affect people’s choice in what sport to
play. Take for example a young girl who excels at swimming but feels uncomfortable
with her body in a swimsuit. That girl may opt out of joining the swim team for fear
of mockery--a decision that is actually hurting herself in the long run.
“What to wear The sexy tight lycra of some netballers, the skimpy swimsuit
of beach volleyball or the drab polyester of the bowls competitions” Jacqueline
Magnay of the Sydney Morning Herald writes, commenting on how uniforms in
today’s times have discouraged more and more girls, especially teenagers, from
joining certain teams.
In Australia in 2006, the Senate began to question the dress code policies of
sports organizations and study how female depiction in the media is affecting sports
participation. Australian commentators also said there has always been an issue with
women’s athletic uniforms in deciding whether to “make them sexy or appropriate
for the sport.” The issue of soft ball players and their shorts being impractical
because of scrapes and bruises they received from sliding was also an issue; the “old
fashioned” longer pants seem too out of style for women, yet men still wear them.
In an article titled “‘I’d Feel Ashamed’: Girls’ Bodies and Sports Participation,”
Bethan Evans discusses how the “male gaze” has now been internalized, causing a
constant body pressure and lack of confidence in girls. This means that whether in
a single-sex or co-ed gym class, girls still feel self--conscious participating it certain
sports.
Blogger Janis Inniss, in her May 3 rd blog entry entitled “Sports, Uniforms, and
Gender,” wrote, “The one question that I haven’t been able to get answered in all my
years of watching the sport is this though: Why are the women’s uniforms so much
more revealing than the men’s” She makes the comparison of long knee-length
body suits in male track and field uniforms vs. female’s tight midriff revealing shirts
and underwear-like shorts.
Bloggers and journalists alike seems to wonder about the beach volleyball
uniforms, whose bathing suit-like string bottoms and bra tops seem to attract much
more attention than is given to the actual sport itself.
While no research is currently underway, it is painfully apparent that athletic
apparel for girls is affecting teenagers’ decisions to join certain sports. Thus we can
wonder if overall female athletic participation in the country and in the world is
going to decrease if no drastic changes are made to help improve the attire of many
sports.
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