Female: A Contested Category
At the core of my work are struggles over the boundaries of womanhood in international sport. Supported by an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, my research charts how the regulatory decisions of sports governing bodies are shaped by diverse political processes, including the agendas of scientific and medical experts, the mobilization strategies of feminist lobby groups, international shifts in gender politics, and demands for the respect of human rights, as well as the activism––and existence––of transgender women and athletes with intersex variations. The focus of my current book project, this work seeks to answer the questions of why inclusion in women's sport has become such a polarizing topic, how it is reshaping international sports governance and feminism in sport, and whether and how sport can achieve its promise of building bridges across difference.
This work also builds on my earlier research on how sex segregation on the sporting field has hampered the pursuit of gender equity elsewhere in sports organizations: in short, essentialism is not without costs, making sport a fascinating setting in which to explore how gender equity projects institutionalize definitions of sex, gender, and difference (Pape 2020).
Related publications (please contact me if you do not have access):
Pape, M. (2020). Gender segregation and trajectories of organizational change: The underrepresentation of women in sports leadership. Gender & Society, 34(1), 81-105. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891243219867914
Pape, M. (2022). Feminism, trans justice, and speech rights: A comparative perspective. Law & Contemporary Problems, 85, 215-240. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol85/iss1/11/
Pape, M. (2022). Something old, something new: Biofeminist resistance to trans inclusion in sport. In H. Lenskyj and A. Greey (Eds.) The Struggle for Trans Athletes’ Justice in the 21st Century, pp. 95-108. Bingley: Emerald Publishing.
Pape, M. (2024). An unhappy marriage? Sex segregation and inclusion debates in women’s sport. In P. Aggleton, R. Cover, C.H. Logie, C.E. Newman, and R. Parker (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights. pp. 120-130. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.
Pape, M. (2024). Saving women’s sport: The case for feminist dialogue with the unregulated majority. Sociology of Sport Journal, 41(4), 370-379. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/41/4/article-p370.xml