{"title":"The Seeping Surveillance of Sex in Sports","authors":"Valerie Moyer","doi":"10.1353/aq.2023.a905861","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The US faces a legislative wave of state-level restrictions on transgender athlete participation, while at the elite level of sport there are ongoing exclusions of trans women and women with sex variations, with confusing, inconsistent policies from national sports governing bodies on just what constitutes \"female eligibility.\" In the midst of debates about \"fairness\" and advocacy for great inclusion, an attention to the surveillance systems at work in sports can shift the terms of debate away from the imperative of a level playing field and toward a discussion of bodily autonomy, privacy, and self-determination for athletes. In doing so, I take a critical surveillance studies lens to illuminate connections between surveillance in sports and other societal institutions. In offering a broad view of the surveillance of sex in sports, I utilize Zygmunt Bauman and David Lyon's concept of liquid surveillance to describe the ways that surveillance mechanisms, logics, and rhetoric seeps through, and out of, sports.","PeriodicalId":51543,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN QUARTERLY","volume":"75 1","pages":"501 - 518"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"AMERICAN QUARTERLY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2023.a905861","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:The US faces a legislative wave of state-level restrictions on transgender athlete participation, while at the elite level of sport there are ongoing exclusions of trans women and women with sex variations, with confusing, inconsistent policies from national sports governing bodies on just what constitutes "female eligibility." In the midst of debates about "fairness" and advocacy for great inclusion, an attention to the surveillance systems at work in sports can shift the terms of debate away from the imperative of a level playing field and toward a discussion of bodily autonomy, privacy, and self-determination for athletes. In doing so, I take a critical surveillance studies lens to illuminate connections between surveillance in sports and other societal institutions. In offering a broad view of the surveillance of sex in sports, I utilize Zygmunt Bauman and David Lyon's concept of liquid surveillance to describe the ways that surveillance mechanisms, logics, and rhetoric seeps through, and out of, sports.
期刊介绍:
American Quarterly represents innovative interdisciplinary scholarship that engages with key issues in American Studies. The journal publishes essays that examine American societies and cultures, past and present, in global and local contexts. This includes work that contributes to our understanding of the United States in its diversity, its relations with its hemispheric neighbors, and its impact on world politics and culture. Through the publication of reviews of books, exhibitions, and diverse media, the journal seeks to make available the broad range of emergent approaches to American Studies.