Sarcasm deliberate
I take it that everyone's heard of what's-her-name that... was it South Africa? She's some sort of athlete. Anyway, the story is that she's both intersexed and good at sports. Apparently one or the other is okay, but not both.
A large portion of normative masculinity is a product of a social system that needed men to go out and get killed in large numbers, while women stayed home and made more men. So it should be no surprise that most traditional athletics are tests of combat ability first, masculine occupation abilities second. They defined what the useful/dominant/physically-fit body was in a society: a combat-ready EN-abled cissexed male.
Think of the most of the events at early olympics: wresting (can you beat someone in a fight?), javelin (can you hit someone with a spear), sprinting and relay (can you carry a battlefield message for your betters?). Later events continue this: biathalon is winter warfare (if it was about hunting, you wouldn't be timed as harshly - and you probably wouldn't make it into a game - you'd just go hunting) while shotput started out as a way of keeping men fit in the British Navy.
Then you have team sports, which are basically mock combat; a means for two groups in close proximity to enact violent dominance in a ritual form where all the warriors are safe - or at least safer than they would be in a war. Many modern team sports are sanitized versions of older ones - look how much soccer, rugby and lacrosse have changed. Yet, at the same time, they maintain the warrior ethic: young men asserting physical dominance over each-other, if not physically injuring each-other, to the cheers of the greater group (hence the "BC" in "BC Lions") and the enrichment of the owning class.
These masculine sports are the "real" sports in our society: think of the prestige involved in hockey. Contrast it to, say, ringette. Or contrast boxing against double dutch. Traditional sports aren't just about exercise, they are a social ritual that asserts gender norms. "Real Men" fight other men. "Real Women" perform traditional culture - often with pom-poms.
That "women's athletics" exists at all disrupt this warrior ethic. Our gender system is quick to contain this threat: keep the war-sports as they are, but separate off the women - and maybe add extra rules to make their sports less rough (cf: women's hockey), and don't take these sports seriously beacuse this is competition and clearly if the women were as good as the men, we wouldn't be in a separate league, would we? If there's a sport at which women tend to be better than men, like "women's" gymnastics or synchronized swimming, then make sure there's no men's team. Don't let people play together or divide them into classes by say... age or size, because this could mean that men have to sim-fight women, which is bad enough on its own, but what if the women win?
Sports and athletics are also afraid of people who blur the gender binary. Ask yourself: why are there so few out bi/pan/gay Queer athletes? And so few among the men? (Men being the real object of sports - we women are just a reluctant afterthought) Oh, sure, we know about gay figure skaters, but remember it's not a "real" sport. Why is the homoeroticism in American football always played down? Why not play it up and pack the stands with cheering Queens? Because we're making war here. Not love. Or rough sex.
That transsexual and intersexual people exist, calls into question the rigidity of our gender binary. That we play professional sports disrupts how professional sports supports a rigid binary. And professional sports does not like being disrupted. Michelle Dumaresque was one of four MtF downhill bikers in the league. But she's the only one that was the subject of controversy, because she won. This seems to be the only time that transgendered athletes make the news. We can compete as much as we want, as long as we don't win. Because then people would have to acknowledge that we exist, that the gender binary is a faulty model, and that trans folk are capable of things other than marginalized labour in sex work and freak shows. Better to write us off as having an unnatural advantage. Additionally, the public shaming heaped on transsexual and intersexed* women as their right to play is questioned reminds everyone that if you get too good in a male field, people will start asking whether you're really a woman. This doesn't just happen in sports - think of how we talk about female poiliticians and business managers.
This is why I want to have a "women and/or trans**" paintball team. Or just a feminist paintball team. To my surprise, it looks like there is a local field that seems to have some compatible values. If we can beat even some of the good-ol-cis-boys at simulated war, and (seeing as it's based not on upper body strength or size but on teamwork, reflexes and cunning) I bet we can, it will fuck with people's heads.
Yes, that's right. The women and/or trans folk just beat you at a war game. Feel like questioning normative masculinity now?
Which reminds me. I live in a small town with a paintball range. And I have weekends free. And i have been putting this off for too long. I think I need to pass the word around. Starting tomorrow now.
*including those who did not know they were intersexed, and who had no way of knowing
**the broad definition of the word - including cissexed sissies and tomboys, cross-dressers and questioning folks.
A large portion of normative masculinity is a product of a social system that needed men to go out and get killed in large numbers, while women stayed home and made more men. So it should be no surprise that most traditional athletics are tests of combat ability first, masculine occupation abilities second. They defined what the useful/dominant/physically-fit body was in a society: a combat-ready EN-abled cissexed male.
Think of the most of the events at early olympics: wresting (can you beat someone in a fight?), javelin (can you hit someone with a spear), sprinting and relay (can you carry a battlefield message for your betters?). Later events continue this: biathalon is winter warfare (if it was about hunting, you wouldn't be timed as harshly - and you probably wouldn't make it into a game - you'd just go hunting) while shotput started out as a way of keeping men fit in the British Navy.
Then you have team sports, which are basically mock combat; a means for two groups in close proximity to enact violent dominance in a ritual form where all the warriors are safe - or at least safer than they would be in a war. Many modern team sports are sanitized versions of older ones - look how much soccer, rugby and lacrosse have changed. Yet, at the same time, they maintain the warrior ethic: young men asserting physical dominance over each-other, if not physically injuring each-other, to the cheers of the greater group (hence the "BC" in "BC Lions") and the enrichment of the owning class.
These masculine sports are the "real" sports in our society: think of the prestige involved in hockey. Contrast it to, say, ringette. Or contrast boxing against double dutch. Traditional sports aren't just about exercise, they are a social ritual that asserts gender norms. "Real Men" fight other men. "Real Women" perform traditional culture - often with pom-poms.
That "women's athletics" exists at all disrupt this warrior ethic. Our gender system is quick to contain this threat: keep the war-sports as they are, but separate off the women - and maybe add extra rules to make their sports less rough (cf: women's hockey), and don't take these sports seriously beacuse this is competition and clearly if the women were as good as the men, we wouldn't be in a separate league, would we? If there's a sport at which women tend to be better than men, like "women's" gymnastics or synchronized swimming, then make sure there's no men's team. Don't let people play together or divide them into classes by say... age or size, because this could mean that men have to sim-fight women, which is bad enough on its own, but what if the women win?
Sports and athletics are also afraid of people who blur the gender binary. Ask yourself: why are there so few out bi/pan/gay Queer athletes? And so few among the men? (Men being the real object of sports - we women are just a reluctant afterthought) Oh, sure, we know about gay figure skaters, but remember it's not a "real" sport. Why is the homoeroticism in American football always played down? Why not play it up and pack the stands with cheering Queens? Because we're making war here. Not love. Or rough sex.
That transsexual and intersexual people exist, calls into question the rigidity of our gender binary. That we play professional sports disrupts how professional sports supports a rigid binary. And professional sports does not like being disrupted. Michelle Dumaresque was one of four MtF downhill bikers in the league. But she's the only one that was the subject of controversy, because she won. This seems to be the only time that transgendered athletes make the news. We can compete as much as we want, as long as we don't win. Because then people would have to acknowledge that we exist, that the gender binary is a faulty model, and that trans folk are capable of things other than marginalized labour in sex work and freak shows. Better to write us off as having an unnatural advantage. Additionally, the public shaming heaped on transsexual and intersexed* women as their right to play is questioned reminds everyone that if you get too good in a male field, people will start asking whether you're really a woman. This doesn't just happen in sports - think of how we talk about female poiliticians and business managers.
This is why I want to have a "women and/or trans**" paintball team. Or just a feminist paintball team. To my surprise, it looks like there is a local field that seems to have some compatible values. If we can beat even some of the good-ol-cis-boys at simulated war, and (seeing as it's based not on upper body strength or size but on teamwork, reflexes and cunning) I bet we can, it will fuck with people's heads.
Yes, that's right. The women and/or trans folk just beat you at a war game. Feel like questioning normative masculinity now?
Which reminds me. I live in a small town with a paintball range. And I have weekends free. And i have been putting this off for too long. I think I need to pass the word around. Starting tomorrow now.
*including those who did not know they were intersexed, and who had no way of knowing
**the broad definition of the word - including cissexed sissies and tomboys, cross-dressers and questioning folks.