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Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport / ALEXANDRA SHAW

Swansea University Author: ALEXANDRA SHAW

  • E-Thesis – open access under embargo until: 1st March 2025

Abstract

Trans women are currently at the forefront of sport due to National Governing Bodies regularly updating their trans inclusion policies, a large online presence from sport stakeholders, and debates in the literature evaluating categorisation methods. However, there is no peer-reviewed literature that...

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Published: Swansea 2023
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Master of Research
Degree name: MSc by Research
Supervisor: Heffernan, Shane M. ; Harvey, Andrew N.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62912
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first_indexed 2023-03-10T17:19:16Z
last_indexed 2023-03-11T04:14:52Z
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spelling 2023-03-10T17:28:07.1246764 v2 62912 2023-03-10 Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport 4d21982b5f4d642cc12a58f6e7701df1 ALEXANDRA SHAW ALEXANDRA SHAW true false 2023-03-10 Trans women are currently at the forefront of sport due to National Governing Bodies regularly updating their trans inclusion policies, a large online presence from sport stakeholders, and debates in the literature evaluating categorisation methods. However, there is no peer-reviewed literature that has obtained the voices of a large number of elite athletes on trans athlete inclusion in elite sport. The purpose of this study was to provide elite athletes this opportunity to openly voice their opinions, given that they are those directly affected by policy decisions. To achieve this, an anonymous survey was distributed to elite athletes, and they were also given the opportunity to partake in an interview. A total of 123 world class/elite athletes that were eligible for the female category of sport, completed the online survey. Out of this total, 5 athletes were further interviewed. The study compared Current Olympic Sport (COS) versus Olympic Recognised Sport athletes (OR), Tier 4 (elite) and Tier 5 (world class) athletes, as well as COS versus Retired Olympic Sport (ROS) athletes. The survey data established that as a group, current Olympic athletes are against the inclusion of trans women in the female category for contact sports (60.4%) and sports heavily reliant on physical capacity (64.6%). Retired Olympic sport athletes are more supportive of categorisation by biological sex (85%), compared to current Olympic sport athletes (60%) (p=0.050). Elite athletes compared to world class athletes consider that the regulations are more unfair for trans athletes (p=0.022), and world class athletes favour a separate transgender category (p=0.039) more than elite athletes. Further, the themes identified in the interviews included that different benefits are associated with different sports; the different interpretations of fairness; the complex nature of sport; and the importance of representation and how voices are represented. The themes emphasised the importance of representation on athletes’ wellbeing as well as the complexity of sport and athletes’ outlooks. The current thesis highlights how there are differences in attitudes towards fairness, as well as the values and the benefits of sport depending on the group of athletes, the competitive level and the sporting context. Therefore, with the complex nature of sport a blanket approach is no longer the answer. E-Thesis Swansea Trans Women, Elite Sport, Female Category, Inclusion, Fairness 1 3 2023 2023-03-01 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Heffernan, Shane M. ; Harvey, Andrew N. Master of Research MSc by Research 2023-03-10T17:28:07.1246764 2023-03-10T17:16:57.8433840 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences ALEXANDRA SHAW 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2023-03-10T17:25:29.0143259 Output 1006090 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true 2025-03-01T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The author, Alexandra Shaw, 2023. true eng
title Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
spellingShingle Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
ALEXANDRA SHAW
title_short Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
title_full Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
title_fullStr Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
title_full_unstemmed Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
title_sort Opinions of Elite Female Athletes Regarding the Inclusion on Trans Women in the Female Category of Elite Sport
author_id_str_mv 4d21982b5f4d642cc12a58f6e7701df1
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4d21982b5f4d642cc12a58f6e7701df1_***_ALEXANDRA SHAW
author ALEXANDRA SHAW
author2 ALEXANDRA SHAW
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences
document_store_str 0
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description Trans women are currently at the forefront of sport due to National Governing Bodies regularly updating their trans inclusion policies, a large online presence from sport stakeholders, and debates in the literature evaluating categorisation methods. However, there is no peer-reviewed literature that has obtained the voices of a large number of elite athletes on trans athlete inclusion in elite sport. The purpose of this study was to provide elite athletes this opportunity to openly voice their opinions, given that they are those directly affected by policy decisions. To achieve this, an anonymous survey was distributed to elite athletes, and they were also given the opportunity to partake in an interview. A total of 123 world class/elite athletes that were eligible for the female category of sport, completed the online survey. Out of this total, 5 athletes were further interviewed. The study compared Current Olympic Sport (COS) versus Olympic Recognised Sport athletes (OR), Tier 4 (elite) and Tier 5 (world class) athletes, as well as COS versus Retired Olympic Sport (ROS) athletes. The survey data established that as a group, current Olympic athletes are against the inclusion of trans women in the female category for contact sports (60.4%) and sports heavily reliant on physical capacity (64.6%). Retired Olympic sport athletes are more supportive of categorisation by biological sex (85%), compared to current Olympic sport athletes (60%) (p=0.050). Elite athletes compared to world class athletes consider that the regulations are more unfair for trans athletes (p=0.022), and world class athletes favour a separate transgender category (p=0.039) more than elite athletes. Further, the themes identified in the interviews included that different benefits are associated with different sports; the different interpretations of fairness; the complex nature of sport; and the importance of representation and how voices are represented. The themes emphasised the importance of representation on athletes’ wellbeing as well as the complexity of sport and athletes’ outlooks. The current thesis highlights how there are differences in attitudes towards fairness, as well as the values and the benefits of sport depending on the group of athletes, the competitive level and the sporting context. Therefore, with the complex nature of sport a blanket approach is no longer the answer.
published_date 2023-03-01T04:23:18Z
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score 11.036684

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