Demolishing of Gender Normalities

The Olympic Games started as only men going head to head, and women are now going head to head. As the LGBTQ+ community has been approved of many freedoms, transgenders have been able to play in Olympic Games as their newly assigned gender. There has been numerous controversies regarding this new decision that transgenders have an unfair advantage and should not be allowed to compete. 

Statistics and comparison of before and after transition have shown the advantages they had. In the New York Post article titled “Trans Women Athletes Have Unfair Advantages Over Those Born Female: Testosterone” shares 43 year old Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbards’ story how has a male set junior records in competition, but as a female won two gold medals and now is ranked 15th in the world. She automatically became one of the best female weightlifters because she had the physical make of a man. It is said her achievements are unfair to the other athletes. Males and females differ in hormones, strength, speed, power, and stamina. So a transgender women will still have the physical aspects and make of as a male, making their athletic advantage unfair when competing with females. 

Sports were made to have different genders and rules for those genders to make it fair for the game. In the Olympic gymnastics the division of male and female events brings out the advantages of female bodies and male bodies. For female gymnasts they are highlighting their ability to balance on a four inch balance beam and how agile they can be. For male gymnasts the goal is to show their power and upper body strength for example on the rings. There is no crossover of these events because men do have the body makeup to balance on a beam, and women can not use the extreme upper body strength needed for the rings. 

Gender norms also play a large role in the separation of these two sports. In a Bustle article titled “Why Men and Women Gymnasts Have Different Events” they discuss the different events and why women will most likely never compete in that certain event. For example they mention how women use floor music and dance within their floor exercise routines while men will only tumble. In the article it stated that “The gymnastics events for men and women are likely different due to the fact that men generally have greater upper body strength than women, with a strong splash of gender norms on top of it.” As their bodies have different makeups the events are created to showcase their athleticism. So if a transgender gymnast was to compete as male and preform on the rings or pommel horse they would have difficulty scoring better than the other males because even though they are a male they can not achieve the upper body strength that a biological male has. 

With the controversy faced with allowing transgender there is still hope for inclusion. Even though their biological makeup still resides in their transition bodies they do not have to quit playing sports all together because they are unable to play with the new gender they are assigned as. Along with athletes who identify as nonbinary have no category to compete where they can feel accepted. If gender titles were excluded all together they are able to participate. 

Gymnasts can compete on the same events since there is already cross over of two events: floor exercise and vault. As for the other male events and female events there are adjustments which can be made for either gender to still compete. If gender titles were completely demolished in the olympics categories that are inclusive no matter the gender can take the place. This being weight and height classes. Gymnasts can be of any shape and size and able to compete and completely ignore whatever gender they assign themselves as.

With the division of classes by height and weight competitions of the relatively same structure and stature will be in the same group competing. In Men’s Journal an article titled “Why the 2016 Rio Olympic Gymnasts’ Bodies Are So Much More Muscular” Jake Dalton a well known male Olympic gymnast states “In gymnastics, you are using so many different muscle groups at once to help yourself through, and I think that’s where the weight training has helped me to isolate specific muscles that were weak before.” This as well applies to women gymnasts as they too are being introduced into weight training to improve their strength and have looked a lot more muscular during the Olympic Games. As everyone has begun intensive weight training they have all gained the strength and stamina to compete in all different types of events. 

In The Bustle article “Why Men and WOmen Gymnasts Have Different Events’’ they include that “female gymnasts probably [are] plenty capable of matching upper and lower body strength, and with the loosening of gender norms.” Female olympians have been shown competing skills of the same nature as male gymnasts, on the bars or even floor exercise. As their strength increases the skills they perform increase with difficulty. Consider 25 year old Olympian Simone Biles. Who has won 32 Olympic and world championship medals she is one of the best of all time, and trains to the extremes. Who is such a strong athlete she has three separate skills on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise named after her because she is the first gymnast to successfully perform these skills. She and many Olympians have shown that over time the training has become more intense making them stronger. They have proven time and time again that they too are athletes of great skill. 

As for the demolishing of gender titles in Olympic gymnasts all gymnasts no matter the gender will benefit from this change. Everyone will be able to compete more events that they have never tried before, and shape them into even better athletes. Also competition will become more fair as they will be around gymnasts of their size, with the same strength and athletic ability as them. 

References

“Why Are Men’s & Women’s Gymnastics Events Different? Look to the Skills They Emphasize.” LaTour, Amée. Bustle, Bustle, 10 Aug. 2016. 

 “Why the 2016 Rio Olympic Gymnasts’ Bodies Are So Much More Muscular” Evolution of a sport. Men’s Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2022, 

“Trans Women Athletes Have Unfair Advantages Over Those Born Female: Testosterone”  Spitznagel, E. (2021, July 22). Trans women athletes have unfair advantage over those born female: Testosterone. New York Post. April 19, 2022,