On November 16, 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations.” Often referenced simply as the Framework, the document updated the IOC’s 2015 guidance for transgender and non-binary athletes to compete in international sport. The IOC’s new Framework came in the wake of several high-profile decisions by International Federations (IFs) and rulings by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that specifically focused on the role of testosterone, fairness, and safety for women athletes.
In these podcast discussions, scholars Veronica Ivy and Ask Vest Christiansen examine the suitability and effects of the IOC’s Framework. Both scholars draw on philosophical and scientific arguments to offer different reactions to the debate.
Trans Women Are Women, and Sport Is A Human Right
Veronica Ivy
I’m really tired of repeating myself. People keep telling me that the topic of including trans and/or intersex women in women’s sport is “complicated.” But it’s not. It’s very simple. Are trans women really women, full stop, or not? If you think “Yes,” then there’s no debate: trans and intersex women, as women, belong in women’s sport. If you think “No,” then there’s absolutely nothing I can say that will change your mind. Reasons didn’t get you into that belief, and they won’t be what get you out of it. It’s a little like arguing with a flat-Earther: if you are convinced that the Earth is flat, then you’ll find any reason, no matter how irrational, to hold onto that belief in the face of overwhelming evidence.
https://olympicstudies.org/trans-women-are-women-and-sport-is-a-human-right/
The Negligence of Biological Reality
Ask Vest Christiansen
The discussion on the inclusion of transgender people in sport has two basic positions, each accentuating different arguments. One focuses on biology, emphasizing how the increase in testosterone levels in boys in puberty drives biological and morphological changes that is the lead cause for the major performance differences between biological men and women. And because of these differences, it is necessary to uphold a category for women protected against male biology. The other emphasizes the connection between identity and rights and stresses that sport cannot carve out its own separate space when society at-large recognizes legal identity as key in societal matters. Therefore, transgender athletes have a right to participate in the category of the gender they identify with. As such, it is a struggle over science, rights, and the proper understanding of what sport is and ought to be.
https://olympicstudies.org/the-international-olympic-committees-framework-on-fairness-copy/
Contact Information
Matthew P. Llewellyn, Ph.D.
California State University, Fullerton (USA)
Department of Kinesiology
Contact Email: mllewellyn@fullerton.edu
