Contradiction or Cohesion? Tracing Questions of Protection and Fairness in Scientifically Driven Elite Sport Policies

2023/04/14 by Anna Posbergh · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Doping in Sports #Sport and Mega-Event Impacts #Sports, Gender, and Society

paper · pdf · doi:10.1123/ssj.2022-0198

openalex publication_date 2023/04/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Much of the resistance and, at times, outright condemnation of including transgender individuals in sports continue to draw upon “scientific” arguments, despite the acknowledged importance of sociocultural and (geo)political factors, resulting in a constructed “either science or human rights” landscape. In this article, I analyze historical scientifically driven International Olympic Committee documents and policies from the Olympic Studies Center to examine if and how sport organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee, have historically balanced these seemingly partitioned considerations in previous regulatory documents, especially those relating to sex, gender, fairness, and protection. Using Sheila Jasanoff’s co-production, I find that, while knowledge informing policies sometimes circulates biologized gender stereotypes, sociocultural and scientific goals have, can, and should exist in cohesion rather than in contradiction .

Citations

• Using thematic analysis in psychology
• Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster Semenya Controversy

Cited by

• Nonnormative Bodies in Sport: Connecting Dominant Gender Discourses on Trans, Nonbinary, Pregnant, and Mothering Athletes

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