TENNIS AGAINST DUALITIES

Trump taking the oath of office without putting his hand on the Bible, making this gesture entirely meaningless, at his second Presidential inauguration, 1/20/2025.

American billionaires Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk all in attendance at Trump’s second Presidential inauguration, 1/20/2025.

THE “W”

INTRO

Earlier this afternoon, President Trump was sworn in for a second time and delivered the following words in his inaugural speech: "As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”

This agenda intentionally overlooks and thereby marginalizes many Americans who don’t identify within the confines of “male” or “female.” Trump’s statement made me think about how he appeals to his followers without using substantive evidence to back his claims; Trump wins people over by using binaries and using competition: one or the either, us versus them. As is often seen amongst children, he seemingly avoids nuance because he only believes there are “good guys” and “bad guys.” His followers versus the undefined and amorphous “establishment.” In this instance, he believes that nonbinary Americans cannot exist under his administration because the “good guys” are traditionalists who believe there are only two genders. To him there must be two genders because to him there is only “men” (us) and “women” (them). However, clearly, there are many Americans who are genetically intersexual from birth. Many are transsexual and many do not identify as one gender within a duality. Many Americans identify as multiple genders, breaking the idea of a duality at all! Whatever the case may be, Trump’s words are a fallacy. A recent study by the UCLA Williams Institute approximates that there are about 1.2 million nonbinary Americans in the United States and Donald Trump’s “policy” purposefully erases their identity… one of many ominous statements hinting at government enforced marginalization for the next four years.

So, what does this have to do with tennis and the need for tennis reform? Well, trans rights and nonbinary rights are human rights. And tennis is a human invention! It was developed by humans, is played by humans, and can change… for humans. In the face of the aforementioned gender discrimination, that is both looming and historic, occurring in the economic powerhouse that is the United States, professional and local tennis circuit cannot avoid discussing their relationships to human rights.

Much of what I argue, and will continue to argue, on this website centers around tennis and tennis-related spaces as both opposition to and escapes from the various oppressors extant on both local and globalized levels. Therefore, tennis-related action serves as a vessel for protest and liberation. Accordingly, I will quickly examine measures to combat gender binary exclusivity in other professional sports before positing my own conclusion about how professional and local tennis circuits can combat oppressive policies below.

In professional sports, many leagues include the word “women” or “women’s” in their title to distinguish their league from male dominated leagues. This implicitly creates a binary: men’s leagues or women’s leagues. However, as mentioned earlier, these two are not the only genders and the approach of creating a binary between them actually is responsible for issues regarding gender in sports. Before proceeding, I should mention that this is not an issue unique to professional athletics. From youth leagues, even many youth clinics and practices, binary gender segregation exists. This carries on into high school and college athletics. Gender binary segregation is the norm at all levels.

I read a compelling article that addresses this issue titled “Living Nonbinary in a Binary Sports World” by Frankie de la Cretaz. One of the most interesting positions of this piece was that some professional leagues are evolving in the terms of how they are gendered. For instance, Cretaz notes that the National Basketball Association (NBA) is a male dominated league despite not actually having any language regarding gender exclusivity in its rules. However, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) developed as an alternative athletic space that explicitly references gender in its rules and most obviously in its title. It was originally formed to offer female athletes a safer and more welcoming environment than the male dominated locker rooms in the NBA. However, this idea of having one gendered basketball league or the other, in conjunction with the explicit rules about gender in the WNBA, is a binary that again overlooks nonbinary and intersexual athletes. However, Cretaz has noted that the WNBA, as well as other “women’s” sports leagues, like the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), have become the more welcoming leagues for nonbinary and intersexual athletes despite having explicit rules about gender exclusivity. As a result, the leagues have had to mold (and are continuing to adjust their language around) the rules to ensure that these leagues are inclusive of nonbinary individuals. These leagues are spaces for athletic competition and inclusivity. Thus, the “W” doesn’t seem to stand for just women.