Search results

As advocates and scholars dedicated to advancing equality for women and girls, we believe that sport can empower all people – and to change the world. Exclusion and restrictions for transgender athletes undermine this cause. Transgender athletes are not and have never been a threat to women's sport. There are, however, serious and well-documented threats to women's sport that warrant attention, including unequal opportunities in participation and leadership, inequitable funding and pay, uneven media coverage, a lack of sponsorship opportunities, sexual harassment and abuse and incomplete implementation of gender equality policies (Bisgaard & Støckel, 2019; Cooky et al., 2021; Hindman & Walker, 2020; Lough & Greenhalgh, 2019; Novkov, 2019; Pape, 2020; Raso, 2019; Schultz, 2018; Staurowsky et al., 2020; Yanus & O'Connor, 2016; Zerunyan, 2017).

A close reading of peer-reviewed, researched-based and credible sources allow us to better understand the experiences of trans athletes, to dispel the dangerous misinformation peddled in recent media accounts and political debates, to outline critical legal and policy discussions about trans athletes, and to highlight why access to sport matters for everyone. There is a clear consensus across multiple disciplines: the future of sport includes transgender women and girls.

Incarcerated transgender women often require healthcare to meet their physical-, mental-, and gender transition-related health needs; however, their healthcare experiences in prisons and jails and interactions with correctional healthcare providers are understudied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In 2015, 20 transgender women who had been incarcerated in the USA within the past five years participated in semi-structured interviews about their healthcare experiences while incarcerated.

Participants described an institutional culture in which their feminine identity was not recognized and the ways in which institutional policies acted as a form of structural stigma that created and reinforced the gender binary and restricted access to healthcare. While some participants attributed healthcare barriers to providers’ transgender bias, others attributed barriers to providers’ limited knowledge or inexperience caring for transgender patients. Whether due to institutional (e.g. sex-segregated prisons, biased culture) or interpersonal factors (e.g. biased or inexperienced providers), insufficient access to physical-, mental-, and gender transition-related healthcare negatively impacted participants’ health while incarcerated.

Findings highlight the need for interventions that target multi-level barriers to care in order to improve incarcerated transgender women’s access to quality, gender-affirmative healthcare.

This study provides first-hand accounts of how multi-level forces serve to reinforce the gender binary and negatively impact the health of incarcerated transgender women. Findings also describe incarcerated transgender women’s acts of resistance against institutional and interpersonal efforts to maintain the gender binary and present participant-derived recommendations to improve access to gender affirmative healthcare for incarcerated transgender women.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly address three interrelated areas of concerns – victimization, housing placement and healthcare provision – related to the health and welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities.

Drawing on a growing body of research on health risks for transgender women who are detained in facilities in California and elsewhere, the authors provide recommendations for policy and practice that constitutes gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women behind bars.

Policymakers, correctional leaders, and prison-based clinicians have a number of opportunities to address the welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities.

This policy brief offers concrete steps government officials can take to better meet their professional and constitutional obligations, provide higher quality care for transgender women involved in the criminal justice system, and effectuate positive changes in transgender women’s health and welfare both inside and outside of carceral environments.

This paper aims to test penis panic theory, which predicts that trans women will face more discrimination than trans men in some but not all situations.

Respondents were 262 American college students who were all enrolled in the same undergraduate course. They were presented with a case about coworker resistance to transgender employees' use of the workplace restrooms of their choice. Four versions of a case were randomly distributed as follows: trans woman, restroom with one toilet; trans woman, restroom with three toilets; trans man, restroom with one toilet and trans man, restroom with three toilets.

The authors observed greater discrimination against trans women compared to trans men when there was one toilet but not when there were three toilets. This supports penis panic theory.

The chief limitation was the use of American college students as respondents. The results may not generalize to practicing managers especially in other countries. Future researchers should develop a scale to measure situational discrimination against trans women. This study should be replicated in other contexts to deepen the understanding of discrimination against trans men and trans women with disabilities, as well as discrimination against nonbinary individuals who identify as neither trans men nor trans women.

Employers need to search for situations in which trans women face greater discrimination than trans men, because they can be resolved in ways that protect the rights of transgender employees no matter how transphobic their coworkers may be. Also, employers need a nuanced approach to combat discrimination that recognizes the unique perspectives of trans men, trans women and other members of the transgender community.

This is the first quantitative study of penis panic theory, and it illuminates the understanding of discrimination against transgender individuals.

Trans women of color contend with multiple marginalizations; the purpose of this study is to examine associations between experiencing discriminatory (racist/transphobic) events and depression symptoms. It uses a categorical measure of combined discrimination, and examines a protective association of transgender identity on depression symptoms.

Data from a subset of trans women of color participants in the Sheroes study were analyzed with linear and logistic regression. Associations of depression symptoms with racist and transphobic events, combined discrimination, coping self-efficacy, and transgender identity were assessed with odds ratios.

Exposure to discriminatory events and combined discrimination positively associated with depression symptom odds. Increased transgender identity associated with increased coping self-efficacy, which negatively associated with depression symptom odds.

Cross-sectional study data prohibits inferring causality; results support conducting longitudinal research on discrimination's health effects, and research on transgender identity. Results also support operationalizing intersectionality in health research. The study's categorical approach to combined discrimination may be replicable in studies with hard to reach populations and small sample sizes.

Health programs could pursue psychosocial interventions and anti-discrimination campaigns. Interventions might advocate increasing participants’ coping self-efficacy while providing space to explore and develop social identity.

There is a need for policy and health programs to center trans women of color concerns.

This study examines combined discrimination and identity in relation to depression symptoms among trans women of color, an underserved population.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms underlying hiring discrimination against transgender women.

The authors conduct a scenario experiment in which fictitious hiring decisions are made about transgender or cisgender female job candidates. In addition, these candidates are scored on statements related to theoretical reasons for hiring discrimination given in the literature. The resulting data are analysed by means of a multiple mediation model.

The results suggest that prejudices with respect to the health of transgender individuals mediate unfavourable treatment of them. However, this mechanism is compensated by a beneficial perception concerning transgender women’s autonomy and assertiveness.

Targeted policy measures are needed given the substantial labour market discrimination against transgender individuals measured in former studies. However, to combat this discrimination effectively, one needs to understand its underlying mechanisms. This study provides a first exploration of these mechanisms.

This study innovates in being the first to explore the relative empirical importance of dominant (theoretical) explanations for hiring discrimination against transgender women. Thereby, the authors take the logical next step in the literature on labour market discrimination against transgender individuals.

It is widely believed that transgender individuals in Nepal inject silicone for face and body manipulation, a phenomenon thought to be common among transgender individuals globally. Therefore, this qualitative study conducted in Nepal explored: (1) awareness of silicone use and sources of information; (2) reasons for using silicone; (3) notion of cost and quality of these procedures; (4) reported negative aspects, including side effects and (5) health seeking behaviors of Nepali transgender women.

The authors carried out eight focus group discussions (FGDs) with transgender women at four different districts of Nepal, five in the capital Kathmandu and three in different rural areas. We also interviewed three transgender women who preferred not to participate in the FGD but were happy to be interviewed separately. Similarly, six interviews with stakeholders working for sexual and gender minority populations were also conducted.

Most FGD participants were young (mean age 23.06 ± 3.9 years) and the majority (55%; n = 34) completed grade six to high school level. Peer networks of transgender people and the Internet were the more popular sources of information about silicone. The decision to use silicone was largely influenced by the desire to look beautiful and more feminine. Often they appear not to follow the recommended procedures for silicone use. Their health seeking behavior regarding side effects or complications of these procedures was very poor.

Findings reflect that targeted interventions aimed at transgender individuals should educate them on the use of silicone, as well as explore safe and affordable approaches to meet gender-related appearance needs of Nepali transgender people.

A number of anti-transgender bills were proposed in the United States during the first half of 2021, with several becoming laws. The passing of these bills has made it increasingly difficult for trans people to gain access to lifesaving, gender-affirming healthcare and to participate in sport based on their gender identity rather than their sex assignment at birth. In light of these new laws, sport organizations such as the NCAA have made statements promising to support trans athletes. While these statements may promote awareness, in order for trans athletes to compete safely and openly throughout their collegiate careers, the NCAA must create policies and implement effective practices centred around trans inclusion. In this chapter, I (Estel, they/he) share my journey as a transgender student-athlete at an NCAA Division I university during the Spring 2021 season. During my collegiate athletic career, I felt both grateful for the chance to row and fear and frustration due to discrimination. Through memory work and participant case analysis, my co-author and I outline the ways that transphobic myths may have influenced my interactions with administrators, coaches and athletes throughout my collegiate athletic career and negatively impacted my wellbeing and performance. We also identify specific ways in which NCAA policies on trans inclusion are outdated and do not align with their expressed commitment to the well-being of trans student-athletes; we provide recommendations for changes to these policies. Further, we recommend trans-inclusive practices NCAA member institutions can implement to create an inclusive and empowering sports environment.

In this chapter, we explore the lived experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) prisoners, arguably the most vulnerable minority in the prison estate, using the data from our correspondence study with transgender women and non-binary individuals incarcerated in male establishments in England and Wales. We provide a brief review of the extant literature, describe the English prison system and the regulations concerning transgender prisoners, and analyze two axes of vulnerability of TGNC prisoners: social (stemming from relationships between prisoners) and institutional (resulting from the prison regime). Along the social axes, we find, in contrast with prior research, that our respondents defied the stereotypes of trans prisoners as submissive to males in a hypermasculine prison society and as involved primarily in abusive relationships. Along the institutional axes, we find that, despite the progressive by international standards transgender prison regulations, prisoners were subject to vicissitudes in treatment that negatively affected their ability to express their gender and their health. Focusing on access to gender-affirming items (clothing, prosthetics, make-up) and gender-affirming medical treatment, we develop recommendations for the prison service that could improve the conditions of confinement for TGNC prisoners.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms underlying hiring discrimination against transgender men.

The authors conduct a scenario experiment with final-year business students in which fictitious hiring decisions are made about transgender or cisgender male job candidates. More importantly, these candidates are scored on statements related to theoretical reasons for hiring discrimination given in the literature. The resulting data are analysed using a bivariate analysis. Additionally, a multiple mediation model is run.

Suggestive evidence is found for co-worker and customer taste-based discrimination, but not for employer taste-based discrimination. In addition, results show that transgender men are perceived as being in worse health, being more autonomous and assertive, and have a lower probability to go on parental leave, compared with cisgender men, revealing evidence for (positive and negative) statistical discrimination.

Targeted policy measures are needed given the substantial labour market discrimination against transgender individuals measured in former studies. However, to combat this discrimination effectively, one needs to understand its underlying mechanisms. This study provides the first comprehensive exploration of these mechanisms.

This study innovates in being one of the first to explore the relative empirical importance of dominant (theoretical) explanations for hiring discrimination against transgender men. Thereby, the authors take the logical next step in the literature on labour market discrimination against transgender individuals.