Control of women’s bodies: historical injustices in sport

Their female competitors were admitted until the next Olympics, the first in Paris in 1900. But with the creation of this “female” category (questionably, as we will see later) came a bias against women and their bodies that still persists in 2024. This sports history column is based on French social historian Anaïs Bohuon’s analysis: Researcher at the School of Sports Sciences, Paris-Saclay University.

The “sportsification” of women

In the 20th century, as women were allowed to participate in more high-level sports,and worry that they will lose their femininitytoo muscular or become sterile. From the 1930s onwards, the exploits of certain athletes aroused suspicion that some of them were not women. Therefore, as Anaïs Bohuon explains in her book, the “femininity test” was introduced A test of femininity in sports. X story? （A test of femininity, an X story?）

European medicine’s discussion of high-level sports is based solely on the principle that women are weaker, have less resistance, are slower, and have less physical strength.

Bohorn believes that everything is designed to put women in a disadvantaged position, and describes this process as the “sportification” of women. This process is based on the following requirements: women’s sports must be smooth, soft, and graceful; that is, the gender and sexual norms established in the collective unconscious of white men must remain unchanged.

This format imposed by these male doctors has affected women’s training for many years. For example, if it was decided that women’s tennis matches were to be won in two sets, rather than three sets like men, then the training would be different.

However, Anaïs Bohuon comments on how the boxer Violette Morris fought and won against men between 1900 and 1907. He even won the Bol d’Or car race in 1927. At that time the Olympics had only three mixed sports: sailing, shooting and equestrianism.

For example, in sailing, athletes Florence Arthaud and Ellen MacArthur won in mixed events; in other words, they beat the humans. In 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, in the mixed event of shooting (skeet shooting), athlete Zhang Shan defeated 7 men. Four years later, at the Atlanta Olympics, the event was no longer a mixed category:The International Shooting Federation prohibits women from competing in shooting competitions against men.

In 2021, at the XXL surfing competition, two women, Justine Dupont and Maya Gabeira, surfed the biggest waves in the world. After these amazing feats, instead of opening up to them all to finally show how the sport is starting to mix, the professional surfing world decided to reward the competition in a non-mixed way. They decided to reward the men and women. who surfed the biggest waves separately, and give prizes for each category.

That is, high-level sport is the only non-unsocial social practice that has been normalized. Mixed （of DiversityAs Anais explains, the world was not ready for these achievements, as European male doctors established these rules in the early 20th century out of a desire for hygiene and national renewal. Bohuon prescribed sports activities deemed “safe and appropriate” for women.

The aim was to ensure that physical activity did not in any way hinder women’s reproductive activity. In fact, as Bohorn comments, these men thus legitimized the application of gender control, where women had to conform to pathologically flawed norms of femininity. Women’s bodies were said to be more susceptible to disease, that their bodies were weaker, that they were restricted by their hair, breasts, hips, or that they were hampered by menstruation, pregnancy or motherhood.

In fact, in 2024, people still say that women who shine in sports “stand out as much as men.” As explained Half Guatemalan RudaThe problem is that bronze medalist shooter Jean-Pierre Brohl said that gold medalist shooter Adriana Ruano shot “just as hard as the men.” This idea of ​​hegemonic masculinity denies the fact that femininity can be powerful, successful, and secure.

Then, throughout the 20th century, high-level athletes were subjected to gynecological examinations and femininity tests, where their muscle strength and breathing capacity were assessed. Everything said: If they showed too much power or ability, then they were not female. To be a woman, your strength must be less than that of a man.

The athletics federation eventually decided to abolish these tests. However, rather than confirming that these were tests that violated women, other solutions were sought, such as eventually “sporting types” The new “gender control” — as historians have proposed it, a category independent of social sex or marital status — was implemented starting with the 1968 Mexico Olympics. At these Games, it was decided that a person would be considered a “woman” if she had XX chromosomes. They established a test called Barr body Thirty years ago, endocrinology had already classified it as unreliable.

Since the 1960s, bisexuality has been recognized in the sports world. Indeed, according to science, Biological sex is not binaryIn fact, nature offers a range of possibilities! So what to do with XY females who produce large amounts of testosterone? This only confirms that the biological definition of female or male doesn’t work.

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In August 2009, Caster Semenya won the women’s 800m category in 1:55.45. People immediately began to doubt her femininity. What is really scary is the violence he has endured, and how admirable his mental strength is. He was accused of being hairy, having no buttocks, hips, and so on. At the age of 18, the athletics federation subjected him to endless examinations. When it was finally discovered that he had female hermaphroditism, the athletics federation established a regulation for this condition, and those who proposed the regulation had to regulate their hormone levels. They were required to take hormones to reduce testosterone levels, although these treatments may have side effects such as diuresis and insulin resistance. This situation perpetuates the theory of women’s physiological inferiority and the illusory desire for fairness, which will only produce exclusion and isolation in the category. femaleThe dominant norm is the category man;However, while it is known that some male athletes produce above-average testosterone, none are considered overly masculine, resistant, muscular, powerful, or fast.

Instantaneity

Women’s sports have always been less important than men’s sports due to the same patriarchal system (less air time, less cash prizes, etc.), until the world took an interest in it due to its transience.

At the last Olympics, an athlete who was sentenced to four years in prison for raping a child under 12 years old was freed after only 12 months in prison (Dutch delegation). There was no statement of any kind on the matter, as the issue at such events seemed to be only transgenderism or athletes who “didn’t look like women”.

Like it or not, transgender people have always existed in the sports world. An example of this is Lia Thomas, who suffered cyberbullying for being a transgender swimmer. That is, because they decided to adopt a gender that did not match the sex they were assigned at birth. Lia Thomas suffered this cyberbullying despite cisgender women (who were the same sex they were assigned at birth) having achieved better results than she did.

For some viewers, these issues are more important than the violence women suffer in the sport. Why did the International Chess Federation decide in August to exclude transgender women from women’s tournaments, even though it considers transgender women to have physical advantages (we’ve seen that the situation is more complicated than that, and that there may be cisgender women who have such advantages)?

As for transgender men in sports, they are not considered “dangerous”. Because they are still part of the dominated category (female) and are assigned inferior characteristics. Despite the fact that transgender men receive testosterone treatment, these individuals do not endanger the gender hierarchy and are not considered to have physical advantages that would allow them to excel in the dominant category. However, they are still considered as people who were assigned female at birth, not male. They are even warned, especially in contact sports, about the risks they face when participating in the male category. Once again, we are talking about the disadvantages of women, that is, the sex assigned at birth.

As if all this weren’t enough, we must also be mindful of how these issues develop given the discrimination faced by non-white women. Racialized women experience more harassment and discrimination in sports. Imane Khelif in Algeria, Caster Semenya in South Africa, Dutee Chand in India or Lin Yu-ting in Taiwan are such examples. I recommend reading another column by anti-racist and anti-patriarchal journalist Sher Herrera, Volcanology.

Let’s hope that hatred of women’s bodies can stop for good. Control of women’s bodies based on arbitrary definitions of femininity must end. Racial stereotypes imposed by white male doctors in the early 20th century must go. It’s time to understand and accept the mutability of the flesh.

This fight must focus on denouncing and ending sexism and sexual violence, guaranteeing women prizes of equal value in competitions, better dissemination of women’s sports, more sponsors and better professional structures for women.