Speakers
Description
Trans athletes are becoming an increasingly marginalized demographic within competitive and recreational sport. Despite growing research on policy and physiology of trans athletes, there is little attention given to the experiences of these athletes regarding harm, discrimination, and violence. The present study aimed to uncover the experiences of gender-based violence that exist for trans folks across the gender spectrum in sport in an attempt to suggest community-based strategies for safeguarding. This research incorporated both an intersectional approach, as well as a grounding in queer theory to understand the relationship between gender/race/disability/sexuality, and the gender-based violence faced. Data collection included brief demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts, and to generate themes. Findings indicated that within these sport systems, the athletes experienced harm from peers, coaches, and other staff. Generated themes include harms that exist on lines of identity invalidation, politics of passing, and an interconnectedness with other axes of oppression. Additionally, identities such as non-whiteness, disability, and fatness worsened, triggered, and made more frequent the experiences of gender-based violence. Outside of interpersonal violence, athletes also experienced systematic harm, including gendered team policies as well as the locker room as a site of harm. The findings from this study identify a need to safeguard sport for trans athletes on multiple fronts through a community approach in order to promote education and celebration of gender diversity within sport.
