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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) History and Context
Exercise 1: Notebook Prompt
| After listening to Episode 3: Card-Carrying Females on Rose Eveleth’s podcast, Tested, she explored the experiences of Kenyan sprinter Maximila Imali, who has been impacted by World Athletics’ rules on athletes with Differences of Sex Development (DSD), much like Namibian runner Christine Mboma. I found the podcast to be very intriguing to listen to since Imali made the decision to legally contest these laws, whereas, Mboma, who opted to abide by them by getting medical treatment to reduce her testosterone levels. The podcast discusses her legal battle and looks at the history of sex testing in women’s sports, bringing to light a prior conflict in which players, journalists, and scientists fought for decades to outlaw earlier types of sex verification tests.
Learning about the long history of sex testing in women’s sports and how, in spite of efforts to phase out old-fashioned verification techniques, new regulations nonetheless regulate the bodies of female athletes was one unexpected component of this episode. Hearing that some athletes, like Christine Mboma, feel compelled to receive medical care in order to adhere to laws, while others, like Maximila Imali, have opted to legally contest these requirements, was also enlightening. Important ethical and justice issues in sports governance are brought up by the episode’s emphasis on how these regulations disproportionately affect athletes from various locations, especially Africa. This episode makes us reevaluate women’s sports fairness and the long-term effects of rules controlling who is allowed to compete. Which is something we are continuing to look for in-depth in for this class, which I find to be very important knowledge for everyone to know.
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B) Timeline of History
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
What other significant case/milestone would you add to this timeline? Note it in your notebook along with a brief (one or two sentences) explanation of why you feel it is important.
| Another milestone I would add to this timeline would be in 1928, the turning point in the history of women’s participation in competitive sports when women participated in track and field competitions for the first time at the Amsterdam Olympics. In addition to giving female athletes more possibilities, this milestone questioned traditional assumptions regarding women’s physical prowess and their place in competitive sports.
The inclusion of this milestone in the timeline emphasizes the need of consistent campaigning for inclusion in traditionally male-dominated sectors and the slow progress made toward gender equality in sports.
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C) Gender coding in Sports
Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
Has the gendering of sport ever been a constraint on your involvement? How?
Or, if not, why do you think this is?
| I had to think pretty hard about this question since I grew up doing competitive dance, which is mainly a female sport. Although the more