‘The Exclusion of Transgender and Non-Binary Athletes in Major Kendo Tournaments: A Human Rights Issue.’

By Kate Sylvester.

Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.

A non-binary person is someone who does not identify as exclusively a man or a woman.

The word cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth.

In recent years, transgender visibility and rights in sport have gained greater attention and the number of trans athletes are increasing. Despite this development in the international sports arena, scant attention has been given to transgender and non-binary kendo athletes. Currently there are no policies that mention the inclusion of transgender and non-binary kendo athletes in major competitions such as the European Kendo Championships (EKC) and World Kendo Championships (WKC). In the absence of such a policy, transgender and non-binary kendo athletes have the option to either conceal their gender identity through passing which according to Auran et al. (2024, p. 7) means, in this case, to be perceived by others as cis, or at least as nondeviant by flying under the radar. No structural disruption of power is made in passing.

The other option is non-participation if gender identity and hormonal features wish not to be, or are difficult to be hidden. Thus, highlighting that major kendo competitions prioritise the participation of cisgendered bodies. Kavoura et al. (2022, p. 196) note it is difficult for transgender people to feel accepted and safe in activities and cultures that rely on binary understandings of gender (i.e., the belief that all individuals are either males or females). The lack of policy in kendo suggests that transgender people are invisible and do not exist and should not be allowed to compete in major tournaments. This is a human rights issue.

A number of Olympic level sport organisations have eligibility policies regarding participation of transgender athletes in competitions. The determining factors are testosterone levels and/or time of gender transition. Policies can frame transgender athletes as a “problem” with language that could be viewed as based on inconsistent ”science,” ambiguous, discriminatory, and draconian. Numerous new transgender eligibility regulations were adopted in the last six years but their content has not been part of the debate so far (von Petersdorff, 2024, p. 2). The majority of the work on transgender athletes takes a clear stand either for or against the participation of trans-women in the women’s category (von Petersdorff, 2024, p. 3).

Nevertheless, even within the policies that are under-developed or blatantly discriminatory, transgender athletes are recognised and acknowledged that they exist, which is not the case in kendo currently. The logic behind the exclusion of transgender and non-binary persons in kendo could be considered a reflection of the conservatism entrenched in kendo, or rather, hetero-patriarchy. The term “hetero-patriarchy” in the kendo context, and many other “traditionally” male dominant sports, signifies that heterosexual and cisgendered bodies, particularly cis-male bodies, are normative and everything else is “othered,” ignored and marginalised.

Male supremacy is the reason for the hierarchical binary gender system in
sport. Particularly in martial arts and combat sports. Women’s sport is still seen as inferior to men’s, which may influence how the women’s category is discussed. Trans-women athletes are scrutinised more severely than trans-male athletes (von Petersdorff, 2024, p. 2). Current research on gender and sexual diversity in martial arts and combat sport participation paints something of an ambivalent picture, and we still know very little about the ways in which transgender people, in particular, navigate the complex problems presented by heteronormativity and cissexism in martial arts and combat sports (Kavoura et al., 2022, p. 198).

Kendo is well-known for being behind other sports in terms of inclusion and equality. One clear example is that 21-years after women’s competitions were recognised as “fully-official” at the WKC in 2003 (although women had competed in the WKC since 1970) women referees were included, and women were allocated equal time in terms of matches and competition days at the WKC held in Italy in 2024. With such a lag in gender equality, it is unsurprising that trans and non-binary inclusion is not yet on the table.

In some countries where kendo is practiced or kendo competitions held, LGBTQI+ rights are dismal and being queer can result in social and/or legal persecution. Currently, some countries unapologetically disallow transgender kendo athletes from participating in kendo competitions or national team gatherings in lack of policy or a faulty logic that cisgendered female kendo athletes could be at physical risk or experience discomfort competing against trans-women. Since trans-men are considered smaller problems than trans-women in sport (von Petersdorff, 2024, p. 14) such ill-informed and unsound arguments do not always accompany the inclusion/exclusion of trans-male kendo athletes. Trans-male kendo athletes can after all more easily fly under the radar and as such do not disrupt structures of power.

The discriminatory reasoning behind exclusion is absurd when considering that women and men often compete and train together in kendo and that at the national team level, for the majority, kendo is hobby compared to many other national team level sports. It is simply fear mongering to paint a picture that including trans-women athletes in the women’s category in major kendo tournaments would be unfair towards cis-women and akin to a caged MMA fight between an woman and a man.

Similarly, it is unreasonable to think that inclusivity would mean that competitions would be suddenly mobbed by trans-gender kendo athletes or that a trans-female kendo athlete would magically appear and sweep away the trophies in the women’s category of a major kendo competition. From my experience, the trans-women in kendo I have sparred with focus on executing the fundamentals in kendo with precision and spirit—not with brute and physical force. Moreover, their physical dispositions are not dissimilar to other women and actually smaller than some of the larger, more muscular women in kendo.

Unsurprisingly there seems to be less concern when cis-men do bully, harrass and injure women in kendo. In these situations when women express objection to being harrassed, bullied or bulldozed in kendo, they are often considered to be whining and should just “suck it up” and be silent. Complaining about these not so uncommon occurrences is only evidence that women are imitations of real (cis-male) fighters and have no legitimate place in kendo—as some may think. This sense of entitlement and/or lack of skill and self-control in insecure cis-men who harrass, bully, injure, and discriminate against women in kendo is in fact the main problem.

In any case, women national team athletes are often physical strong and technically skilled and many enjoy, even prefer, competing against men. As such, it could be argued that the ”discomfort” and phobia sits on the lap of the federation leaders and tournament/camp organisers that are speaking for women and not on behalf of what well-informed kendo women may feel or think. Thus, highlighting how women’s categories are represented as requiring protection, which portrays female athletes as physically inferior to male athletes (von Petersdorff, 2024, p. 17). This exclusionary logic exercised by some kendo nations reflects local societal norms and laws, as well as their sport federation policies that are blatantly discriminatory and reflective of archaic ideologies.

A key issue towards the inclusion of transgender athletes is the binary structure of most sports—the female and male categories. Many sport policies regarding transgender athlete inclusion are defined by “normal ranges” of hormones, time of transition, and stereotypical assumptions about hetero-normative bodies. Highlighting the variation in biological dispositions, the genetic compositions and hormonal levels of successful elite female and male athletes are often outside of “normal ranges” set by the “average” untrained person. Athlete’s bodily compositions also sit on a broad spectrum. For example, many elite successful female athletes in particular sports have genetic dispositions and naturally higher levels of testosterone than the average levels. The new IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) regulations (World Athletics, 2018) state women legally recognised as female or intersex are permitted to compete in women categories but women with testosterone levels in the male range are required to medically reduce them to be allowed to compete. The fairness and morality of these rules have been challenged by human rights and academic experts.

Although there is a hormonal distinction between cis-female and cis-male elite athletes, all cis-male and trans-woman persons are not necessarily faster and stronger than all cis-women. For the average person, and non-elite athletes (like most kendo practitioners are for example) there are significant genetic and physiological variations between and within sex categories. As an example, as a cis-woman, I am physically stronger than some cis-male kendo practitioners. I have also dealt out my fair share of bruises and given someone concussion through overuse of power and lack of skill earlier on in my kendo career.

Transgender and non-binary kendo athletes exist in our community and they are not the “problem.” The problem resides within the heteronormative culture of kendo and that federations are yet to create policies that provide equal opportunity for transgender and non-binary athletes to represent their country with openness and pride. Being true to oneself by identifying with a self-hood that is not the sex assigned at birth is following one’s path with truth and great courage. Kendo promotes itself as a life path, a benevolent and inclusive path. But how sincere and inclusive is kendo culture when policies and practices marginalise and discriminate against people (humans) that sit outside the boundaries of what is “normal” or the cis-gender binary in kendo.

In the absence of policies that acknowledge that members of our community exist, how does kendo authentically contribute to society when certain practices ignore and marginalise those that are living in their truth with more courage, perhaps, than the the average kendo practitioner who is not required to navigate the world with a problematised gender identity. Many of us as kendo practitioners are striving towards self-actualisation and searching for our truth, our real selves, through kendo. But why is this path of truth currently only, in reality, accessible and structured to ascend cis-gendered men?

Nevertheless, Kavoura et al. (2022, p. 202) study suggests that transgender people participating in martial arts and combat sports can construct martial arts as an empowering and inclusive sporting context. However, in the same study it was also highlighted they shared a number of challenges related to being transgender within them, such as the gendered nature of locker rooms, competition categories and training practices, the lack of protective policies, and the general ignorance surrounding transgender issues in martial arts (Kavoura et al., 2022, p. 202).

Auran et al. (2024, p. 5) study explores how transgender athletes often struggle to make themselves intelligible as humans in a cis- and heteronormative context of sports and exercise. In addition to passing, another strategy employed highlighted the study discussed the method of mediating, which is described as “a way among trans people of (pro)actively handling (un)intelligibility” and “in contrast to passing, mediating does not necessarily imply compliance with cisnormativity, but it does imply compromise, explanation, and remedying.” The third and final strategy highlighted in the study is handling through challenging which is a confrontation approach that opposes how sport and exercised is organised by a gender binary (Auran et al., 2024, p.6). These strategies all imply the intellectual and emotional labour demanded of transgender athletes to exist in sport and exercise contexts.

Change starts with awareness and discussion. It is also important to start with gender diversity education for kendo leaders, coaches and sensei. Kavoura et al. (2022, p. 202) suggests that it “would help to dispel myths and misconceptions about transgender participation, specifically around notions of universal, biologically determined athletic superiority and the “dangers” this might pose in everyday practice.”

In her paper, von Petersdorff (2024) argues for a rethinking of human rights to change the strict binary categorisation in sport based on sex. A non-binary means of organising sport may eliminate anxieties around inclusion and belonging for trans people and martial arts and combat sport activities are at least partially organised in such ways (Kavoura et al., 2022, p. 202). Given that 2025 is only days away, it is time to put a policy that includes trans and non-binary athletes in national teams on the table. Kendo is unique in that women and men frequently can and do train/compete together. As such, kendo has an opportunity to be a progessive leader in the arena of competitive sport with gender inclusive policies that do not dilute the much-needed continued support of women’s kendo development.

Further Reading

Auran, I., Bäckström, Å., & Larsson, H. (2024). Trans People Struggling To Be Human in Sports and Exercise: Passing, Mediating, and Challenging Cis-and Heteronormativity. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1(aop), 1-9.

von Petersdorff, L. (8 December 2024). Rethinking Human Rights for Transgender Athletes: A Policy Analysis of Transgender Eligibility Regulations in Competitive Sport. https://idrottsforum.org/petersdorff241202/

Kavoura, A., Channon, A., & Kokkonen, M. (2021). “Just existing is activism”: Transgender experiences in martial arts. Sociology of Sport Journal, 39(2), 196-204.

World Athletics (23 April 2018) Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification. https://worldathletics.org/news/press-release/eligibility-regulations-for-female-classifica

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