As URI faculty associated with sport studies, we want to briefly weigh in on what Dr. Hughes’ gets wrong about the relations between sport, gender, and power in her controversial essay, “Fantasy Worlds on the Political Right and Left: QAnon and Trans-Sex Beliefs.”
Sports have long been key spaces in the struggle for social justice. URI students have been fortunate to come of age witnessing athletes, especially those from marginalized groups, using their platforms to demand racial justice, police reform, gender equality, and fair pay.
But, Dr. Hughes’ essay signals how conservatives are using sports as a new battleground to sow divisions in the country. In fact, Dr. Hughes’ essay comes at a time when anti-trans legislation is being pushed in over twenty state legislatures As Chase Strangio, Deputy Director of Transgender Justice explains, these moves aim “to shut trans people out of public spaces”. And as a new report from Media Matters for America notes, since Joe Biden came into office, there have been no less than eighty-six segments on Fox News that dealt with transgender rights. The majority of these have “fearmongered about trans athletes and lied about best practice health care for trans youth.” Make no mistake, conservatives are mobilizing fear, ignorance, and prejudice against transgender people as a way of undermining diversity and inclusion norms in American civic life.
Given Dr. Hughes’ predilection for fantasies, in the short space we have here, we wish to point out the fantasies that Dr. Hughes conjures in her commentary.
The first of Hughes’ fantasies is that transwomen pose a threat in women’s locker rooms. This fantasy is just the latest iteration of the ‘bathroom predator’ myth that conservatives have used to attempt to ban trans people from public restrooms. And as our colleague, Dr. Reumann explains in her Cigar op-ed, this trope is just another in a “long and ugly history” where baseless myths about race and gender have been used to keep some Americans from having full access to citizenship and civic life.
Hughes second gender fantasy is constructed through her portrayal of former MMA fighter Fallon Fox. Here, Hughes doubles down on trying to scare the public about the dangers of letting transwomen (who she derisively labels “biological males”) participate in sports against cis women. Hughes’ fantasy casts Fox as a dangerous threat who “broke the skull” of her competitor, even ominously labeling a link to video footage of Fox fighting as “graphic.”
But clearly, Dr. Hughes isn’t familiar with the sport of MMA. The grainy footage offers nothing unexpected. Orbital fractures (the less hyperbolic clinical term) are a very, very, very common injury in a sport centered on participants repeatedly punching and kicking each other in the face. Yet, Hughes’ statement deserves scrutiny because it belies a condescending paternalism that threatens not just the right of transwomen to play sports with others like them, but if taken too far, the power of all women to decide for themselves whether or not they play sports.
Drawing on Helen Lenskyj’s historical research in Out of Bounds: Women, Sport & Sexuality, Dr. Hughes’ fearful fantasy about Fox parallels pseudo-scientific beliefs from the late 19th century like the ‘female frailty myth’ and ‘vital energy theory’ that posited women’s bodies could not handle strenuous physical activities like (and we’re not joking here) riding a bicycle, playing tennis, or even running full-court in basketball. More than a century and a half later it is clear how these misguided perceptions of women’s bodily capabilities were little more than patriarchal prejudice masquerading as scientific and medical expertise. The same could be said about Dr. Hughes’ claims today.
Her fantasy about Fox also implicitly rests on the assumption that boys and men are bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic because of natural differences in testosterone levels between men and women. But, as Katrina Karkazis, award-winning author of Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography puts it: “What is clear is that testosterone is not the unique essential ingredient for success across every conceivable sport. Labelling women “biological males” draws a dubious connection between sex, testosterone, and athleticism that relies on long-discarded ideas that men and women can have a “true sex”, that testosterone is a “male sex hormone”, and that testosterone is the key to superior athleticism. None of these are true, and it’s long overdue that people stop saying they are.”
While Dr. Hughes’ commentary is troubling for how it generates false equivalencies and misinformation while casting herself as a victim, what we find most problematic is how it distorts the lived experiences of most transgender teens and adults. Hughes represents transgender youth through the stories of the few who have regretted their decisions to undergo bodily surgeries. She forwards their stories in order to erase the everyday experiences of prejudice and bigotry that a majority of transpeople experience from those who refuse to acknowledge their humanity.
We invite URI community members to take an hour this week to read up on some stories of transgender kids’ experiences in sports. Take, for example, Mack Beggs. After being forced to wrestle against girls despite transitioning and living life as a boy, he endured boos and harassment even though he wanted to wrestle with the boys. Or, that of Connecticut high school sprinter, Andraya Yearwood who had parents openly threatening and cursing at her at track meets to the point where she has feared for her safety.
Finally, if you believe like us that playing sports and being a part of a team can provide important social lessons, please ignore the fantasies about transgender women being peddled by Dr. Hughes, and let your local, state, and federal representatives know that transgender youths should be allowed to play sports with those of whom they most identify.
Kyle Kusz,
Associate Professor, English and Gender & Women’s Studies
Matt Hodler
Assistant Professor, Sport Media & Communication