Vol. 27 No. 290 (2022)
The last bastion of the patriarchy
The sports fact should be conceived as a confluence between a multiplicity of factors, the biological one being one more. The dichotomous classification of genders that serves as a guide to justify the segregation between men and women shows enormous limitations, even in the medical field. The emergence of transgender bodies makes visible the fragility of the very foundation on which modern sport was built: the staging of the superiority of men (all men) over women.
Reality shows that the norms that apply to men are not the same as to women, which determines the material and symbolic prizes that are awarded in each case. A woman who stands out is always under suspicion, a man who rises above the rest is remarkably recognized, and in some cases, becomes wealthy. If segregation between the sexes in sport is eliminated, all people will compete affirming their uniqueness, without being stigmatized or differentiated, with the motivation of being able to reach the highest rewards.
Sport is one of the last areas of culture where the patriarchal system still survives, supported even by those cisgender women who criticize it so much. The survival of this phenomenon in a practice of enormous media coverage could affirm a normative model that justifies the expulsion and exclusion of people, in sport and also in other areas. Leaving this alternative open means a setback in basic rights, which is already happening in several countries.
Tulio Guterman, Director - July 2022
Published:
2022-07-11
