The Future of Women's Sport Includes Transgender Women and Girls ^*

A part of, yet apart from the team: Substantive membership and belonging of trans and nonbinary athletes

“…Once Kelly was identified as trans, her athletic achievements, once celebrated, were now discredited as those of an invader (Bettcher, 2007; Puwar, 2004). Her participation now suddenly heralded the alleged demise of women's sports (English & Pieper, 2022; Schultz et al., 2022). In this manuscript I argue that for both Kelly and I—whose experiences are neither the same, nor representative of all trans and nonbinary athletes’ experiences—our sense of belonging, or substantive membership, in our respective sports has been shaped not only by formal institutional rules, but also by interactional moments and gestures of non‐recognition, signalled by other members of our sporting communities.…”

“…As a result, these debates eclipse attention paid to veritable threats to women's sport. Issues that warrant attention include a persistent lack of funding and media coverage, unequal coaching and leadership opportunities, as well as sexual harassment and abuse (Cooky et al., 2021; Pape, 2020; Schultz et al., 2022). Despite the fact that Trans women have been openly competing in women's sports for decades, not a single trans woman has dominated women's sport, as conservative stakeholders allege (Schultz et al., 2022).…”

“…Issues that warrant attention include a persistent lack of funding and media coverage, unequal coaching and leadership opportunities, as well as sexual harassment and abuse (Cooky et al., 2021; Pape, 2020; Schultz et al., 2022). Despite the fact that Trans women have been openly competing in women's sports for decades, not a single trans woman has dominated women's sport, as conservative stakeholders allege (Schultz et al., 2022). For trans women athletes to access widespread substantive membership, sport as we know it would need to change drastically.…”