Fair Play By Katie Barnes

THE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2023 by Time Magazine #23

What does a fair and trans-inclusive athletic policy look like? That is the question at the heart of journalist Katie Barnes’ electrifying debut, Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates, which looks at the role gender has historically played in sports. Through in-depth and compassionate reporting, Barnes breaks down the misunderstood science surrounding sex and gender that has been used to keep cisgender women out of sports and has fueled debate over trans athletes participation in women’s sports. As Barnes explains, those who support trans sports bans have claimed that it would be unfair for trans women to compete against those who were assigned female at birth. Barnes investigates the validity of those concerns by speaking with medical experts and analyzing the difference between using testosterone to medically transition and using it to gain competitive advantage. The writer also takes a closer look at Title IX, the landmark 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education, and how it unnecessarily normalized sex segregation in sports.