Trans Athletes' Resistance - (Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender) by Ali Durham Greey & Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (Hardcover)

About the Book

Acknowledging the formidable hurdles trans and nonbinary athletes face in their struggles for inclusion, acceptance, and freedom, this book documents and analyses their resistance across a range of social-cultural and geopolitical contexts, from community sport to high-performance competition.

Book Synopsis

With sport representing one of the last bastions of binary thinking, trans and nonbinary athletes face formidable hurdles in their struggles for inclusion, acceptance, and freedom. Trans Athletes' Resistance: The Struggle for Justice in Sport documents and analyses individual and collective resistance initiated by trans and nonbinary athletes and allies across a range of social-cultural and geopolitical contexts, from community sport to high-performance competition.

In addition to sociological investigations of global, national, and local resistance, contributors present case studies and first-person accounts of struggles to challenge structural barriers and interpersonal hostility.

Challenging policy-makers' binary definitions of males and females, the dominance of the achievement model, and toxic masculinity within sporting subcultures, the book explores how trans and nonbinary athletes not only resist transphobic policies and practices but also create new models of inclusive sport.

The book has important implications for gender-inclusive policy development. Contributors present new methodologies and ways of theorizing the complex relationships among sex, gender, and sexuality in the equally complex terrain of sport and physical activity.

Review Quotes

Sports, supposed to be healthy, popular recreation and a source of goodwill, have recently become a site of extraordinary prejudice against some participants, on grounds of gender non-conformity. In this clearly-written and impressive book, trans and nonbinary athletes describe the real-life consequences of bans and oppressive regulation. Together with sports scholars, they consider current resistance and future ways to make sports truly fair and inclusive.

About the Author

Ali Durham Greey (they/them) is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Their work examines the experiences of trans and nonbinary people in sport and education. Ali is a SSHRC- Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholar and a retired member of the Canadian Olympic boxing team.

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (she/her) is Professor Emerita, University of Toronto. Her work as a researcher and activist on gender and sport issues began in the 1980s, and her critiques of the Olympic industry include seven books, most recently The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach (Emerald, 2020).