“Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport”,

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According to Heather Skyes in her article “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport”, the vast variety of genders that make up our society today including transsexuals and transgender are still not accepted into the world of sports due to anxieties from large sporting organizations. In our culture, there is a ‘binary structure’ which separates male from female. When a person is transsexual or transgender, the binary structure becomes challenged. There are so many exceptions to the binary structure, that it becomes nearly impossible to universalize “gender inclusive policies”. These individuals increase the ‘anxieties’ that Skyes suggests sporting organizations have, because transsexual and transgender people do not fit the norm. Sports organizations find it easier to ignore equal opportunity, because classifying ‘non-binary’ genders is a nearly impossible task. Skyes acknowledges that it is difficult for sporting organizations to classify transsexual and transgender as male or female, therefore there are tests which are performed to confirm the gender of athletes. Unfortunately, these tests are often seen as offensive to athletes and may violate the basic human rights of an athlete. The position Skyes takes on this matter is that sports organizations need to understand that each person is different and they need to be understanding towards the unique circumstances of each individual athlete.

Within “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport”, there are both strengths and weaknesses. Skyes makes an excellent suggestion for sporting organizations to be accepting of all athletes as each person has a different circumstance. In Medscape Women’s Health Journal, Myron Genel wrote an article about gender testing in the Olympics....

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...rticipate in activities which they enjoy. At the high school and inter-collegiate level, I believe that whichever gender an athlete claims, they should be allowed to participate with athletes of that given gender. When it comes to a more national level of sporting, I believe that there should be a separate category for transsexual and transgender athletes.For example in the Olympic Games they would have male, female and transsexual/transgender games. Some may think that this excludes non-binary athletes even more, but I believe it would allow these athletes to feel comfortable with their gender and sexuality. Although this might be a difficult task in the first few Olympic Games due to ostracism and gender bashing, I believe it could be quite beneficial for our culture to accept the fact that we are a culture made up of a wide variety of genders and sexualities.

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