Experiences of trans persons in physical activity and sport: A qualitative meta-synthesis

Highlights

•	Language has negative consequences for trans people but also becomes an act of resistance.
•	Changing rooms are experienced as embarrassing and unsafe.
•	Trans persons use different strategies for transgendering within physical activity and sport.
•	Trans people are perceived as abject, although abjection can also play a subversive role.
•	Commitment of managers is necessary to enhance access and safety.

Abstract

Access and participation of trans people in physical activity and sport result in a variety of experiences. The purpose of this paper was to map and provide new insights to existing qualitative research on experiences of trans people in physical activity and sport. Searches in international databases identified 604 documents related with those issues. Of these, the authors assessed 31 studies in accordance with a reading guide. Finally, 12 qualitative studies were selected. Key issues are condensed into four cross-cutting themes: (a) language; (b) facilities and spaces; (c) transgendering strategies; and (d) abjection. The identified issues show how trans persons diversely experience and manage situations of verbal discrimination, resistance, occupation of spaces, identification, and rejection. The paper concludes with insights based on the distinction between gender conformers and gender transformers, and implications for sport managers in order to enhance participation, enjoyment, and wellbeing of trans people in physical activity and sport.

Keywords:

• Review
• Social inclusion
• Transgender
• Abjection
• Sport management
• Experiences

Acknowledgment

This work was partly supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain under Grant number EDU2009-06815-E/EDUC and Grant number DEP2011-28190. It was also supported by two predoctoral contracts funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain under Grant number BES-2012-052493 and Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte of Spain under Grant number FPU13/03247

Notes

1 As Travers (2006) warns, the distinction transformer/conformer needs to be considered with caution. Though useful to comprehend different understandings and tensions even within trans communities, it should never be considered as deterministic or prescriptive of what trans individuals and communities are or should be. Trans people may fluctuate or combine the performance of their transformer or conformer identities depending on situations, contexts and moments of their lives, and this would also affect (and be affected by) their experiences on physical activity and sport. Finally, opposing gender conformers against gender transformers would be counterproductive because all of them, for different reasons, tend to be marginalized.