I shouldn’t allow “in sports” to distract me from the gender-binary ideology

Gender isn't a binary, and that harmful ideology needs to be challenged everywhere: including “in sports”

I took close note of the phrase “in sports” in this video:

Trans Athletes: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

(I recommend the entire video, but this quote is around 27:28)

Because it does seem like right now you can basically say anything you want about trans people as long as you tag on “in sports” after it.

I don’t think trans women should be allowed … in sports.

I don’t think trans women are women … in sports

But it is noticeable just how fast the “in sports” part can drop off once people feel that permission has been granted.

I wasn’t personally invested in any of the “in sports” part of the conversation as I don’t personally like competition or sports. My parents tried to get me interested like other children – even brought the whole family to a Sudbury Wolves game against a North Bay team where the fighting broke out into a hockey game from time to time. Sports simply never stuck for me, and while I currently have a Movati membership for my own physical and mental health, I still have no interest in competition, sports, or especially competative sports.

The John Oliver video reminded me that I should be paying closer attention, as the “in sports” discussion is far more closely tied to the “bathroom”, “change-room” and other bans discussed previously. It is simply a thin edge of the wedge to question the very existence of anyone who doesn’t fit the fundamentally flawed notion of a gender binary.

I understand the re-traumatizing potential of “someone with a penis” entering into a changeroom or common areas of a bathroom where there are victims of rape from males. As much as some activists would like to pretend rape culture is a thing of the past, this isn’t remotely the case.

The problem, however, is not binary where people can be trivially sorted into one of two options based on whether they have a penis or not.

The problem is the false notion gender is a binary strictly tied to chromazones and reproductive organs in the first place. The real problem is this society has designed bathrooms, change-room, and other aspects of the infrastructure of society based on religious texts and related culturally-specific imposed binary gender roles rather than more neutral scientific observations.

I consider myself cisgender-passing. I don’t believe in the notion of a gender binary, and wasn’t ever considered masculine enough for some gender ideology extremists. I recognize the privilege I receive because I’m not a primary current target of the gender ideology. While my motivation for social justice isn’t tied to how likely I could personally be a target, I am personally aware enough to not falsely believe there isn’t a problem.

Being oblivious to a problem is one of the privileges those not targeted by a problem usually possess.

Note: I’m all for banning sports from educational institutions, as I believe there are far too many aspects of community centers and other institutions that have been pushed into schools which are pushing academics out. But that is a conversation for another time.