Perceived Meanings and Implications of Transgender Inclusive Policies in Collegiate Recreation: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

To examine the intersection of trans-identities and collegiate recreation program and services (CRS), this inquiry explored the perceived meanings and implications of gender-related competitive sport policy as interpreted by transgender students. Three trans-identifying students (n = 3) participated in this inquiry; each student reviewed collegiate recreation competitive sport policy excerpts and provided qualitative responses during phenomenological, semi-structured interviews. The resulting transcripts underwent a two-part, cyclical analysis to identify and explore common themes and phenomenological essence. Conclusionary themes indicated that CRS competitive sport policy—while possibly having the intent to be gender inclusive—may not be conclusively perceived as such. In addition, select—yet common—terminology used in CRS lexicon was perceived as being exclusive to trans-identities. These themes suggest that CRS trans-inclusive policy should consider the reception of its content during development and furthermore address a gap in literature by providing practitioners with insight as to the manner of which CRS policy is being perceived by their intended trans-audiences.