Media framing of transgender athletes: Contradictions and paradoxes in coverage of MMA fighter fallon fox

Abstract

Increased attention to and acceptance of transgender people has begun to enter mainstream conversation and take root in popular culture. However, media coverage of transgender people has tended to present narratives that restrict the range of gender meanings and recuperate gender challenges back into conventional binary categories. Similarly, sport organizations have traditionally been quite hostile toward bodies that transgress the gender binary. Given this context, the current chapter discusses media coverage of transgender mixed-martial arts (MMA) athlete Fallon Fox. Ultimately, media coverage of trans athletes is likely to include many contradictions and paradoxes, which is representative of broader difficulties associated with maintaining a system of strict sex segregation in sport.