Over at After Atalanta I have started--and will continue--to write about the executive order banning transwomen from school-sponsored sports. But I wanted to post here a specific Title IX-related consequence of this executive order (and the capitulation of the NCAA via its new policy which is also an outright ban on transwomen in NCAA competitions).
The group and it supporters who say it is "saving" women's sports has endangered them. This is not news; scholars and activists have been saying this for a while. (If you are one of these folks and want me to link to your work here, email me at kristine.newhall@cortland.edu and I will add them to this post).
A summary of what has already been said well:
- Banning transwomen and girls is a human rights violation. There is no justification for denying a group of people access to an activity that is lauded (even if problematically) as highly beneficial to mental and physical health.
- A ban on transwomen, in the name of safety, harms all women and girls by
- subjecting them to greater scrutiny in terms of their adherence to norms of femininity; this scrutiny is greater for women of color who already are judged by the standards of white, western femininity. Also, this is already happening. Athletes are being called out and accused of being boys/men when they are "too." Too good, fast, strong, aggressive, masculine, spirited....It will not stop at verbal accusations. There will be schools and leagues that put physical exams into effect for anyone wanting to play women's sports. In addition to being an outrageous violation of privacy, and a form of violence, it will deter young girls from participating which will make a lot of anti-Title IXers very happy. Fewer women playing sports means more money for football.
- Relatedly--the confirmation of "biological sex" via physical exam will engender even more sexual abuse of girls and women.
- Sexual abuse in women's sports is the other major area of critique of trans athlete bans. The focus on protecting women athletes and making sports safe for them is another way the rampant sexual abuse --not by trans women but by cis men--is both covered up and enabled. Johanna Mellis is one scholar activist who has written about this.
What I am adding: The executive order will negatively affect Title IX compliance.
One, it is not clear what the Department of Education is going to look like. Of course, any attempts to completely eradicate it will be met with legal challenges. The Office of Civil Rights is in charge of Title IX complaints. It is unclear whether the current administration views OCR as a DEI initiative and will attempt to dismantle that.
Two, whatever version emerges or remains simmering during this chaos will, I predict, be aimed at punitive investigations of schools that allow trans women athletes to compete (or have in the past because this administration is all about revenge) or use bathrooms or locker rooms or even have all-gender facilities. Already understaffed, there is no way this department will be exempt from the firings that other agencies have.
So when your daughter complains about the lack of medical care she receives as a woman athlete compared to athletes on men's teams or the crappy fields she has to play on or why she isn't getting equitable NIL (because this IS coming) and no one from OCR shows up because they have been compelled to "investigate" an all-gender bathroom at North Atlantic College for the Arts remember this moment.
I am drawn over and over again to the hole in the ship metaphor that I know Cornell West has used to describe a society whose foundation was built on racism and sexism and exploitation. The ship has a hole (so many holes) and those at the bottom of the ship feel the effects first, but eventually the whole ship goes down.
The ship that is women's sports has been torpedoed by this executive order. The people who will feel its effects most acutely and quickly are those most marginalized already in women's sports: all trans people, intersex people, and cisgender women of color. But the waters are rising. All queer women should be fighting this. Not that long ago people suggested that lesbians were physically superior to heterosexual women and "science" was used to back this claim as well. Whatever comfort or safety queer women have attained in sports is also in jeopardy. Backers of these bans are not good with nuance.
But eventually, white cis hetero women and all the others taking a victory lap after having "saved" women's sports, the waters will reach you too.
You can tell NCAA leaders what you think of the ban via email:
- NCAA President, Charlie Baker - cbaker@ncaa.org
- NCAA Managing Director of Inclusion, Amy Wilson - awilson@ncaa.org
- NCAA Chair, Board of Governors, Linda Livingstone (President, Baylor University) - Office_of_President@baylor.edu
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