Extended Voting- 3rd Week MT23

Amended: LGBTQ+ and Trans-Inclusive Sports

LGBTQ+ and Trans-Inclusive Sports 
Proposer: Mia Clement (Oxford SU) 
Seconder: Aryemis Brown (Somerville)  
Content Warning: Transphobia 

 

Student Council Notes:  

  • Despite the positive aspects of university sports, by mimicking wider sport practices, they may also be environments that exclude non-normative bodies, including those who are trans. 

  • At Oxford, approximately half of sports clubs are governed by the British Universities and College Sports (BUCS) and the other half are non-BUCS clubs, resulting in different governance practices and inclusion policies. 

  • Experience and testimonies from trans student suggests further action can be taken to ensure university and college sport is inclusive to all, particularly in regard to the reliance on wider binary gender structures in sport (men and women’s categories, often with no additional available open or mixed category), which are evident in the British Universities and Colleges Sport transgender policy, and additionally non-BUCS club policy at Oxford. 

  • Based on the available academic literature like Phipps (2019) and trans student experiences, it is clear that major barriers still exist in sport, an environment that is predominantly structured with reliance on gender binaries, where eligibility issues and transphobia are potential barriers for non-binary, gender non-conforming and trans-students want to play sport. 

  • To elaborate, within sport the body is a central focus, with gendered structures (such as separate male and female sport teams) and normative gendered ideologies (such as socialisation of males and females into different sports) apparent, creating a highly gendered space. Gender binaries are arguably evident in sport for two broad reasons; firstly, there is the suggestion they create and maintain a level playing field for female athletes in the vast majority of sports where male physiology may create ‘natural’ physical advantages. Aside from ensuring fairness, binary classifications may also be seen as a means to ensure male hegemony in sport, perpetuating male privilege and the ‘patriarchal status quo’ (Krech, 2017), restricting any attempts for inclusion or accessibility for those who identify outside of the gender binary or the success of open/mixed sports teams. 

[Phipps, 2019: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1012690219889621 ] 

[Krech, 2017: https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPagehandle=hein.journals/berkjintlw35&div=14&id=&page= ]  

 

Student Council Believes:  

  • It is essential that we create an environment where all individuals, regardless of their gender identity, expression or sexual orientation, feel safe, welcome, and empowered to participate in sports and physical activities. 

  • Oxford University has a proud history of academic excellence and inclusivity, and these principles should extend to all aspects of university life, including sports. 

  • University and college clubs should be accessible to all students and students should have the opportunity to join an ‘Open Team’. 

 

Student Council Resolves:  

  • VP Activities & Community be mandated to work and implement on a LGBTQ+ and trans-inclusive policy for sports, bringing it to the Sports Strategic Sub-Committee. 

  • VP Activities & Community be mandated to collaborate with university and college clubs to support trans-students in sport across Oxford. 

  • VP Activities & Community be mandated to collaborate with the LGBTQ+ campaign on the creation, adapting and implementation of an LGBTQ+ and Trans-Inclusive sports policy across the university and colleges. 

  • VP Activities & Community be mandated to work not only on non-BUCS club policy but in addition work with BUCS to improve its current trans-inclusive policy. 

  • [AMENDMENT PASSED DURING MEETING] VP Activities & Community to be mandated to form a student working group on this project.