Responding to Diversity
The Impact of Resistance Training on Female to Male Gender Transition
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Melanie Adams, Jillian Descoteaux
Currently, there are no exercise testing or programming guidelines for those undergoing hormone therapies to align their gender identity with their physical presentation. Current literature points to a lack of physical activity in transgendered adults (Henrick & Duncan, 2018, Jones et al, 2018), few opportunities in sport (Hargie, Mitchell & Somerville, 2017) and greater risk for obesity, dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes (Wierchx et al, 2013). Furthermore, symptoms of anxiety and depression that are associated with being transgendered (Velez et al, 2016). The role of exercise as complimentary treatment to gender alignment therapy has not been explored. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a resistance training exercise program on multiple components of physical and emotional wellbeing in people transitioning from female to male. The proposed case-series will follow 3 female to male transgendered individuals over 12 weeks of a professionally supervised exercise program. Each participant represents a different age group; adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. A mixed-methods approach will be used. Quantitative measures of body composition, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance will be taken at baseline, midpoint and post. Descriptive statistics and graphing will be used to determine changes in fitness. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted to learn about participants experiences with physical activity before, during and after the exercise program. Using a phenomenological framework, transcriptions will be coded and analyzed. It is expected that participants will improve multiple fitness components and report better emotional health as a result of the exercise program.
Crossing Australian Football's Colour Line: Adam Goodes' "Unforgiveable Blackness"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tom F Heenan
The African-American American activist, W. E. B. DuBois, claimed that boxer Jack Johnson had an “Unforgiveable Blackness” which challenged America’s institutionalized racism. The same can be said of the Indigenous Australian rules footballer, Adam Goodes. Among the game’s most decorated players and the 2014 Australian of the Year, Goodes considered football an Indigenous game and an expression of his Aboriginality. His career spanned a period in which historians and writers debated football’s origins. A body led by historians Geoffrey Blainey and Gillian Hibbins traced the origins to the English public school, while another group suggested football emanated from the Indigenous game, Marngrook. Goodes was in the latter camp. In 2008 he suggested Indigenous footballers were “born to play,” prompting Hibbins to label his comment “racist.” Goodes’ conviction was challenged in 2013 when he was called an “ape” by a young supporter, and in 2015 when he celebrated a goal with an Indigenous war dance. While Goodes considered it an expression of his culture, opposition supporters and many commentators found it intimidating and offensive. Goodes was subsequently "booed;" an action which the media and the code’s governing body, the Australian Football League (AFL), were slow to criticize. Disillusioned, Goodes retired in 2015 and remains a fringe figure. This paper contends that he, like Johnson, had an "Unforgiveable Blackness." The booing he received revealed the limits of the movement toward Indigenous/non-Indigenous reconciliation. Goodes was not a compliant Aboriginal but viewed by many non-Indigenous Australians as having crossed football’s colour line.
If You Want to Play, You Can Play: Researcher Teams Up with You Can Play Project to Develop Youth Program
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tammy Matthews
The significant initiative of the You Can Play Project is promoting acceptance of queer folks in sporting spaces. Currently in development, the YCP community-based program strives to impact the culture of sports for young people — particularly at the youth, high school and college levels — and to make sport more inclusive for the queer community. Influencing sport culture includes explicitly changing the knowledge, attitude and behavior of cisgender athletes. The YCP program will support parents, coaches, administrators and other leaders with direct impact on the athlete experience in its work to promote an inclusive sports environment. YCP will support athletes by providing a social network where they can learn and connect. The project will publicly recognize coaches, schools and other organizations who demonstrate a commitment to inclusion. Creating local access to information — including confidential advising — and other resources is a crucial initiative, as is building lesson plans for health teachers at partner schools with video introductions from high-profile athletes. A YCP partnership, advocated on the You Can Play Project social media accounts, could help youth organizations blueprint successful Pride events. Developing step-by-step reference guides and internship programs facilitated by an academic partnership will help examine and endorse tolerance with radical visibility.
Pom-Poms and Pacifiers: Student Resistance at the Intersection of Gender Norms, Family Values, and Sport Participation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Isabelle Elias
Gender ideologies are intricately woven into the structure of sports; but the degree to which individuals have agency within those structures is not yet fully understood. Additionally, some sports are overtly structured to be highly gendered (football, cheerleading), while others are less so (soccer, tennis). Students choosing to participate in sports often must decide to be a traditionalistic athlete (i.e., playing a sport that coincides with and reinforces the hegemonic expectation for their gender) or a transgressive player (i.e., playing a sport that specifically violates the gender status quo). Past scholarship has shown specific instances in which gender conformity in sport coincides with an individual’s views on gender ideologies. However, the extent to which such a phenomenon is generalizeable or holds today is uncertain. In this study I investigate sport as a potential site for resistance to hegemonic gender norms for student athletes. Using data from Monitoring the Future’s survey of high school students in 2015, I test the rates that sports participation, parental influence, and demographic factors correlate to respondents’ views of gendered norms compared across both “traditional” and “transgressive” student athletes. While I find evidence for the continuation of a hypothesized connection between gender conformity on and off the field, comparisons across genders show surprising nuances. I discuss these nuances, potential explanations for the observed trends, and paths forward for future research.
