Index IntroductionLiterature ReviewRepresentation of Transgenders in Sports MediaRespect of Transgenders in Sports FanshipPersonal PositionConclusionIntroductionWhile transgender people have always existed throughout humanity's timeline, the social acceptance of deviating from assigned genders continues to be a controversial debate. Especially in modern Western cultures, gender and sex are largely synonymous. While cultures throughout history have recognized transgender people, explaining their identity as a third gender or a soul trapped in the wrong body, modern cultures fail to separate biological sex and social gender. There is an interconnection between the two, as gender is a socially constructed application of expectations given to different sexes, but the lack of acceptance and knowledge has led to discrimination and suffering of transgender people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The discussion of trans rights is once again reaching the forefront of social debate. As Western cultures begin to grant basic human rights to people within the queer community, trans people have also begun to push for visibility and rights. The fight for transgender rights is an uphill battle, as trans people in recent years have been denied access to public restrooms corresponding to their identity, banned from military service, and denied posthumous respect. For example, Leelah Alcorn, a trans woman from Ohio, sparked national debate after she committed suicide due to forced conversion therapy. After her death, some news outlets referred to her as a boy, using her birth name (commonly referred to as a "dead name" for transgender people undergoing name changes) in media coverage. Her family continued to treat the deceased unfairly by burying her as a boy, using her dead name on the gravestone (Mohney). Transgender rights made headlines again when Caitlyn Jenner debuted her post-transition identity, which led to Jenner winning the Arthur Ashe. Courage Award at the ESPYs, fueling the debate on the definition of courage. Jenner's win also forced the transgender debate into the sports world, where she had kept a fairly low profile, making headlines only at lower levels where high school athletes were denied participation because of their gender identity. This sudden intersection between sports and transgender rights inspired a debate that very few were ready or willing to have. Literature Review As previously stated, transgender identities are not new, but academic research on queer identities is, in general, lacking. Due to the recent renewal of queer acceptance in Western societies, research on specific identities has increased tremendously. Homosexuality is no longer a taboo research topic, but other identities are still working to attract researchers' interest. Transgender research exists almost exclusively in medical and psychological research. The basis of transgender research lies in the sociological idea of ​​gender as performance. Harold Garfinkel conducted this research, studying Agnes, a trans woman, to theorize gender as “doing” and as “choreography of microinteractions” (Papoulias). This theory further led sociologists to study and discuss the social enforcement of gender norms, which has been used frequently by feminist theorists such as S. J. Kessler and W. McKenna (Papoulias).Other theorists have continued this view of gender, distinguishing between performative gender and the sexed body, helping to draw lines between gender performativity in transvestites and drag performers, who often identify with their assigned gender when out of costume, and transgender people, who exist entirely within their interpreted gender (Papoulias). Beyond Western cultures, anthropological studies on transgender people have been abundant. The best-studied examples, as noted by Papoulias, “are the berdache (opeople) in Native American cultures, the hijra in India, the kathoe in Thailand, the xanith of Oman, and the mahu in the Pacific Islands” (Papoulias) . Although queer theorists credit themselves with initiating transgender activism and research, recent activists and academics are beginning to distance themselves from the previously emphasized roles of gender performativity and gender deconstruction. Activists and academics like Jay Prosser argue that trivializing gender undermines the strength of transgender people's true gender identity (Prosser). For transgender individuals, the pressure to conform to cisnormative gender identities throughout their lives is substantial and harmful, as found by Levitt and Ippolito. Both distal and proximal factors, such as the media and family members, exert relentless pressure toward conformity. Beyond simple pressures to conform, transgender people were more prone to verbal and physical threats and violence than cisgender people. The daily fears of many transgender people include violence and curiosity: Levitt and Ippolito found that transgender people are often treated as objects to be examined rather than as human beings. Due to a lack of general information regarding transgender identities, transgender youth often must battle external and internal factors to achieve peace, but must do so without knowing that terminology exists to describe their experiences (Levitt and Ippolito). Transgender politics in sports is even less studied and discussed than the spectrum of identities itself. From 1968 to 2000, women competing in the Olympics were forced to undergo “sexual testing.” The introduction of Title IX in 1972 opened the door to female athletes, but without mentioning what defines a woman. The 1990s saw the development of the Gay Games' policy of transgender and intersex inclusion. In 2004, the International Olympic Committee introduced the Stockholm Consensus, which allowed “transsexual” athletes to participate, assuming the athlete had undergone gender reassignment surgery. While these advances appear to indicate positive changes towards transgender inclusivity, the world of sports at large remains stuck on its normative gender binary (Sykes). Very few examples of transgender athletes at elite levels of sport have ever reached a mass audience – notes Male to Female Sykes. athletes, such as tennis player Reneé Richards, golfer Mianne Baggar, cyclist Michele Dumaresq and kick boxer Parinya, who have all competed at the elite levels of women's sport. Sykes is unable to name any female or male athletes who have successfully competed at the elite levels of men's sports. Due to the success of the previously mentioned women, other women have been denied access to women's sports. Richards' successful case against US Tennis was followed by discriminatory rules in other leagues, including the United States Golf Administration's creation of a rule that only allowed women who were assigned female at birth to compete, destroyingmade the growing success of Charlotte Ann Woods (Sykes). as discussion about transgender rights in sports began to gain traction, organized sports began to panic. This is largely due to the threat of overthrowing the imagined bodies fantasized in the context of professional athletes (Sykes). Sports have consistently sought to be exempt from transgender rights laws. In the United Kingdom, a case has been brought against the country for violating an international law. The government responded with the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, designed to protect the civil rights of transgender people. UK Sport requested exemption from the law and the exemption was granted (Sykes). In Australia, sport is also exempt from civil rights laws. A key issue for transgender athletes is the difficulty of adapting to the two major categories of sports competition. Although trans men are men and trans women are women, people often instead see trans men as trans men and trans women as trans women. This introduces what Hargie, Mitchell, and Somerville call “the locker room problem.” Discomfort with shared locker rooms and other facilities creates the largest barrier to entry for transgender people seeking to engage in sports. Because many transgender people don't come out until after adolescence, transgender athletes often don't have experience socializing in the locker room that matches their gender identity. There is the same level of discomfort in entering the locker room that corresponds to the gender assigned at birth because it is not a space for people of their gender. According to Hargie, Mitchell, and Somerville's findings, locker rooms also create a fear of intruding on others' safe space. Locker rooms and bathrooms are a public space of gender validation, which is understandably terrifying for transgender youth and transgender athletes. One of the main arguments against allowing transgender athletes to compete is the fear of an unfair advantage for male athletes over female ones. This argument emphasizes earlier muscle development, high testosterone levels, a greater muscle-to-fat ratio, greater heart and lung capacity, and a tendency for greater aptitude in motor skills (Sykes). While this may be true for pre-transition athletes, it assumes that all males are inherently better athletes than all females and that males will change gender to succeed where they may not have been able to do so in men's sport. Reneé Richards was only allowed to compete in the US Women's Open tennis tournament because her testicles had been removed and her body was physically "weakened" by the resulting loss of testosterone (Westbrook and Schilt). The Stockholm Consensus was passed to allow transsexual people to compete if they underwent surgery to “minimize gender advantages” (Westbrook and Schilt). These transphobic regulations ignore the scientific facts: trans women who have undergone hormone replacement therapy, with or without gender reassignment surgery, have testosterone levels and body fat ratios similar to those of cis women (Sykes). Transgender Representation in Sports Media As previously discussed, transgender athletes are not represented in sports media due to the lack of compensation for transgender athletes in competitive sports. Chris Mosier, an American triathlete, became the first known transgender athlete to join a U.S. national team other than his sex assigned at birth in 2016, when he.