O lugar do não lugar: corpos dissonantes no esporte olímpico

Abstract

This thesis aims to verify the consonance between the point of view of athletes affected by gender policies and the arguments that underpin the determinations that support the participation of gender-discordant athletes in high-performance and Olympic sports competitions, based on the guidelines proposed by the IOC in 2021 with the Framework on Justice, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variance and the consequent changes in criteria and positions of the IFs. Through an exploratory study on athletes affected by gender policies in sport, with the purpose of hearing their voices on a delicate and little-studied topic. We sought to adopt a careful methodological approach, due to the sensitive nature of the topic, which prioritized respect for the privacy and autonomy of the participants. Initially, the focus group technique was chosen, which would allow listening to different points of view collectively. In addition, semi-in-depth interviews were planned with athletes whose trajectory involved gender variance. However, the athletes faced significant resistance to participating directly in the research, which led to an adjustment in the approach, which began to include secondary sources, such as interviews and testimonies published in the media, specifically on platforms such as YouTube, Google and Globoplay, respecting the terms of use of these sources. The research was structured in three phases: in the first, a documentary analysis of publicly available information on gender-dissonant athletes was carried out; in the second, individual interviews were conducted with the gender-dissonant athletes who agreed to participate; and, in the third, interviews were conducted with focus groups of athletes whose gender identities were not questioned, called consonant athletes, segmented by team and individual sport. This managed to gather a diverse set of data and voices, which allowed us to enrich the analysis and respond to the objective of the study, despite the limitations imposed by the resistance to direct contact with the athletes. The results revealed a diversity of positions among the athletes, reflecting a range of personal experiences and distinct sporting contexts.