“Femininity” in Sports — Black women as “too masculine”

When we say “woman”, most people would imagine a small, petite, curvy, big-breasted, probably white woman wearing a floral dress with a bow in her hair. She’s likely NEVER a woman playing sports. Okay well, except if it’s volleyball and the woman’s wearing booty shorts and a high pony tail. Because that’s what it means to be a woman right? It’s all about the sexual appeal, barely about the skill-set. But what does this mean for women in sports that DON’T fit this exclusive definition of womanhood, then? What does it mean for the rest of us? I guess we should then just try to meet these ideals, stay slim and trim, do some extra squats and hope for the best.

Or how about no? How about we don’t accept these white, western male-centric ideas of womanhood and let ladies PLAY? Oh and might I add, be GOOD at it? The public discourse today scrutinizes anyone that doesn’t fit this ideal definition of womanhood, even if it’s in a context where physical and sexual appeal shouldn’t matter at all! Let’s take for instance, the case of Caster Semenya, a famous South African track runner and Olympics gold medalist who gets repeatedly scrutinized for “being too much of a man” and hence having an “unfair advantage” in women’s sports. Semenya, born with naturally high levels of testosterone, has become the face of public debate around the meaning of “womanhood” in sports. She was subjected to “sex testing” (I know, WHAT?) by the International Association of Athletics Federation several times owing to her consistent wins in the olympic games. This issue didn’t only remain a legal issue, but became a heated topic of discussion for almost every social media and news media outlet around the world. People on either extremes on the opinion spectrum also did their best to get their side heard loud and clear. In fact, the youth’s social media culture took it in its own hands to humiliate Semenya in the best way it does: through memes.

These memes (Left — top and bottom) describe her as being a “secret man” pretending to be a woman to win these all-women tournaments. They also mock the “fine line” between men’s and women’s sports by comparing Semenya’s situation to a past feminine male Olympic runner. These memes highlight a public tendency to want to sharply establish a masculine-feminine binary in everyday life, and especially in the highly gendered institution of sports.

This compulsive need to abide by white feminine ideals likely stems from an internalization of media depictions of female athletes. While most media depictions of successful female sports persons are centered around white, feminine athletes, the depictions of non-binary, atypical athletes are mostly in a rather negative light. Unfortunately, Semenya isn’t the only woman subjected to these femininity ideals. Sportswomen like Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Britney Griner have also faced similar critiques based on their more muscular, “manly” looking physique. Want to notice something screwed up? What’s common between these four women? They’re all B-L-A-C-K. Of course, there has been a long standing tendency in history to scrutinize black women for not being “feminine” enough, or more likely, not being WHITE-looking enough. An innumerable amount of scholarly studies have pointed out this trend and this tendency for not just the public, but for everybody involved in sports cultures to condemn a rather non-white womanhood. For instance, even Semenya’s own colleague and fellow runner, Lynsey Sharp, in an interview with BBC (2:48–4:46), cried on camera about how she considered Semenya’s win in the 2016 Olympics as being unfair on her and her fellow “woman” athletes that apparently makes it especially difficult owing to the current rules (i.e, not calling for testosterone testing) but that she hopes the rules will become more stringent in the future.

The title, “Testosterone? Heart-breaking Lynsey Sharp Interview” itself signals how the public sees Semenya’s win as being “unfair” on REAL women, i.e, more feminine looking, white athletes that take the greatest issue with Semenya’s natural advantages and undermine her talent.

Fortunately, however, there is a flip side to this coin. Many young people (including many of Semenya’s fellow South Africans) critiqued Sharp’s remarks as her making excuses for her loss rather than having real weight in calling for testosterone testing in sports. In fact, a popular movement eroded on twitter in 2016 in reaction to all the Semenya hate and “sex testing” laws, with the popular hashtag #HandsOffCasterSemenya, through which today’s youth called for legal institutions to leave Semenya alone, and to let her compete without “testosterone suppressants” or equivalents. People even signed petitions supporting Semenya’s cause and for the IAAF to back down from these westernized-ideals of womanhood.

While some people on social media approached it in an emotional light of how this reflects the worlds attempts to condemn black women in the ONE thing they’re actually winning at - sports - others took a more scientific view of the issue. They calling for researched evidence proving that testosterone DOES actually boost performance to an “unfair” extent. Some others called this phenomenon a natural advantage just as there are natural advantages for many athletes who tend to do better in sports than their co-athletes.

For instance, Trevor Noah, the famous South African comedian, did a piece on the Semenya controversy (3:59–6:08), in which he rightly called her situation a “unique genetic advantage” and compared it to other famous sportspersons’ natural advantages like that of swimmer Michael Phelps’ body producing half as much lactic acid as compared to other swimmers and basketball player Shaquille O’Neal’s height allowing him to dunk just standing up!

But of course, Michael Phelps is a white man (He is dealt the best cards yet!) and Shaquille O’Neal isn’t a woman, so who cares? They’re just LUCKY! Of course, this is an illuminating example highlighting how it is ALWAYS women of color in sports facing the greatest barriers in their quest for success. Here’s where we see Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality play out in it’s full glory. But these powerful, resilient women continue their uphill battle with the utmost grace and strength, so kudos to you ladies!

Unfortunately, however, the IAAF still finds evidence against new successful woman athletes (unsurprisingly, they’re mostly women of color), that would exclude them from competing without altering their natural bodies to meet white “feminine” ideals. Caster Semenya continues to fight the battle to be able to race without restriction. The newest court ruling as recent as July, 2019 prevented Semenya from competing in the World Championship three month ago. In this struggle for equality in sports, it is important not to forget those most affected by cultural and legal norms: black women.