Q - L I V I N G
TNotes
by Robbi Cohn . Contributing Writer
Gender discrimination in sports
Sarah Gronert’s desire to play tennis isn’t
complicated. Unfortunately, for her, every
thing else about the game is. You may have
heard her story. A number of LGBT and/or
alternative papers have covered her travails
— even the New York Daily News ran an
item about her. Briefly, Gronert had been
born with an intersex condition, subse
quently treated surgically. Many knowledge
able clinicians recommend allowing persons
with intersex conditions to determine sex
and gender identity for themselves. The out
dated practice of arbitrary sex determina
tion by surgical fiat is recognized to have
caused irreparable damage to many who
should have been allowed to self determine.
Gronert was lucky to have been born during
an era when some positive light has been
shed on the subject of intersex conditions
and to have been able to make those choices
for herself.
Gronert is not physically a giant; she’s not
even big. Neither is her torso large, nor her
musculature overdeveloped. Her hands look
like any average woman’s hands might
appear. Yet, she has been accused of having
an unfair advantage on the pro tennis circuit
because of her former intersex condition.
Israeli coach Schlomo Tzoref, who coaches
Julia Glushkow, has been Gronert’s major
critic. After Sarah won the match against
Glushkow, and subse
quently, the tournament,
Tzoref declaimed, “There
is no girl who can hit
serves like that, not even
Venus Williams.”
He further stated,
“When I heard her story, I was in shock. I
don’t know if it’s fair that she can compete
or not. She does have an advantage, but if
this is what the WTA have decided, they
probably know best. If she begins to play
continuously, within six months she will be
within the top 50.”
Gronert currently is ranked number 619
on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
circuit, has won two tournaments and a
grand total of $20,000 in prize money. Coach
Tzoref’s complaints are anything but ground
ed at this juncture. Even if she proves to be a
consistent winner, there is no just cause to
ban her from competition. Gronert has the
apparent musculature and body mass of any
average athletic woman in her early 20s. Her
physique is not necessarily reflected in her
ability or talent.
The Women’s Teimis Association has heard
Gronert’s case and voted to allow the 22-year-
old to compete. The association is due the
recognition it deserves for its open-minded
policies regarding Gronert.
Of course, the WTAs choice to be inclusive
has not always been the case in sports. East
German women power lifters were questioned
during mid-20th century Olympics and inter
national competitions. Then, there was the
case of Foekje Dillema, a Dutch athlete born in
1926 who Radio Netherlands covered in July
2008. She appeared to have a promising
Olympic career before the Dutch Athletics
Union banned her from competing. There
appears to have been some chromosomal
anomalies, but analysis by experts today has
deemed that there should have been no reason
for her not to have been alb\yed to compete
with other women.
The aforementioned Olympics have been
fertile ground for gender discrimination. In
her July 30,2008, New York Times article,
Katie Thomas noted that during the early
Cold War era, “women were asked to parade
nude before a panel of doctors to verify their
sex.” Starting in 1968, chromosomal testing
was used. Thomas wrote that the practice of
testing “came under increasing criticism in
the 1990s by doctors, scientists and athletes
who argued that the tests were not just inva
sive, but were also bad science.” With all the
testing, women did fail, but it Was always
determined that the situation involved inter
sex conditions and that there had categorical
ly been no evidence of imposters. There cer
tainly were no valid cases for women to be
barred from participating.
With no negative incidents, and a post-
Cold War mind set, it appeared as though there
would be a liberalizing of policy. And, in 2004,
the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
set an inclusive policy for gender diversity.
In August, 2008, writer Paul Steinbach
noted that, “The IOC doesn’t allow a transsex
ual athlete to compete in the Olympic Games
without evidence that the external genitalia
have been changed, the appropriate hormonal
therapy has been administered to ensure equi
table competition, and at least two years have
passed since the surgical removal of the
ovaries or testes.”
This policy is neither haphazard nor half-
baked and ample consideration has been
given to ensure a level playing field.
The most recent Beijing Olympics brought
a switch regarding any concept of liberaliza
tion. The policies we saw were nothing short
of draconian.
According to a spokesman from
Organization Intersex International (Oil),
“Chinese officials have announced they will be
using chromosomal and genetic tests as well
as nude examinations of women athletes at
the Beijing Olympics.”
Members of Oil, as well as other organiza
tions, decried the Chinese position and we can
only hope that their treatment of gender
diversity is anomalous.
Conversely, decisions like the kind the
WTA made regarding Gronert give hope that
athletics will nurture the kind of change we
hope to see across the gamut of gender issues
— employment, housing, medical, insurance,
for example.
Once again, the struggle for equality is evi
dent on the world stage. Each trans person
whose life and story become visible becomes
an ambassador for tolerance and acceptance.
In that regard, Gronert’s tennis court doubles
as a court of public opinion. >
— Comments and corrections can be
sent to editor@q-notes.com.
To contact Robbi Cohn, email
robbi_cohnl08@yahoo.com.
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