Trans women participation in sport: a commentary on the conservatism of gender critical feminism

ABSTRACT Since the update of the Stockholm consensus in 2015, the policy direction had been to allow trans and non-binary women to participate as women athletes, after satisfying certain restrictions. More recently, a reversal in policy direction towards the exclusion of trans* athletes from women’s competitive sports has occurred. This policy reversal has been driven by a number of authors who openly support a gender critical feminist position. This brief commentary looks at three pillars of the gender critical position, and argues that each of these three pillars will produce conservative outcomes in women’s sport that will do nothing to challenge the dominance of men, nor prevent the ongoing subordination of both women and trans* athletes.