A female boxer from Saguenay laments the lack of information about the practice of the sport by transgender athletes. She learned an hour before she got into the ring that she would have to face a rival born in a man’s body.
“I’m a beginner, I do this because it gives my life meaning, but I also don’t want to make decisions that have an impact on all the other boxers. It wasn’t up to me to decide, so I preferred to abstain,” Katia Bissonnette told the Journal in an interview on Tuesday.
The latter appeared at the Golden Gloves, Quebec Championships, in Victoriaville last weekend with just one fight under her belt. But what was her surprise when someone told one of her trainers that she would cross swords with a transgender person, as Le Quotidien reported.
“We had no information, for example about testosterone levels. It was so blurry,” Bissonnette said.
“Conversely, if a woman has become a man and fights with men, does he then put himself in danger?” she asks herself.
Without consent
Anyone who has been practicing this sport, which requires enormous physical skills, for a year and a half would have liked the organizers to be more transparent.
“What disappointed me most was that I wasn’t notified. In the face of a very unusual and new situation, there was no free and informed consent,” emphasized Bissonnette.
Of course, she is disappointed that she missed the opportunity to gain more experience, but looking back, she realizes that it is a chance “to think that the rules are clearer in the future.”
“I think that Boxe Quebec or Boxe Canada needs to draw a line,” argued the member of the Chicoutimi Boxing Club.
Not taking any risks
At 36, Katia Bissonnette is not aiming for the Olympics. The psychologist and speaker began boxing to fulfill the need to surpass himself. “I’m self-employed and can’t afford to miss work. I know there are risks in boxing and I accept them, but everything is calculated, with the weight, the number of fights. “It is very regulated, but there is a lack of clarity on this issue,” emphasized the one who was supposed to fight on November 18th.
The amateur boxer repeats it: Her dilemma with transgender people is nothing personal. Rather, it denounces a lack of information and regulation.
“Anyone can box and I recommend it to everyone. It is a wonderful sport, but it must be practiced with full skill for the safety of everyone,” Bissonnette concluded.
Here are excerpts from Boxing Canada’s transgender athlete policy:
Recreational transgender athletes are not required to disclose their gender identity or history to Boxing Canada.
Transgender athletes who transitioned before puberty are not required to disclose or tell Boxing Canada their gender identity or history and may compete in the appropriate category of the gender with which they identify.
Transgender athletes who have transitioned from male to female are permitted to compete in their respective female categories under the following conditions:
i) The transgender athlete must have declared that he or she identifies as a woman, knowing that this declaration cannot be changed for at least two years.
ii) ii) The transgender athlete must demonstrate that his total serum testosterone level has remained below 5 nmol/L for at least 12 months before his first or next competition.
iii) iii) The transgender athlete’s total serum testosterone level must remain below 5 nmol/L throughout the desired competition period in the female category.