Atletas intersexo no cenário esportivo

Abstract

Intersex is the term used to designate varieties of congenital conditions in which the anatomy does not conform to the standard of masculinities and femininities understood as typical for men and women (Pires, 2015). People with intersex variations destabilize the normative standards that underlie society. Thus, society does not recognize intersex as another sexual variation, but as a pathological condition, resulting in a life marked by governing and managing their bodies so that they can adapt to the binary norm of sex/gender definition. In the sports scenario where the separation of the sexes is understood as a fundamental issue, in the name of equal conditions – fairness – bodies, especially intersex bodies, which blur the boundaries between male and female, and threaten the functioning and the maintenance of patriarchal structures, are investigated and sometimes removed from competitions. Thus, the main objective of the research was to investigate the processes of subjectivation of intersex athletes based on the insertion, trajectory and impacts of their sports careers. To this end, the work sought to bring narratives from intersex athletes at an amateur level that could dialogue with the cases of high-performance intersex athletes exposed by the media and literature, with the relationships that emerge from the practice, over the years, of sex/gender verification policies and female with hyperandrogenism eligibility regulations. As methodological paths, qualitative research, of an interpretative nature, brought an intersectional look to reflect social markers and used the data triangulation technique to analyze documentation, literature, media reports on cases of intersex athletes and interviews. The sample included the collaboration of four intersex people, two former athletes and two athletes practicing sports at an amateur level. The semi-structured interview had its script prepared according to the principles of thematic oral history. The analysis of the data collected in the research was treated in light of Bardin's content analysis and resulted in descriptive texts about the life story of each person interviewed, and in five analytical categories, namely: construction of intersex identity; representation of sport in the life of intersex people; the management of the intersex body through sports practices; place of the intersex athlete in sport; right to be an intersex person. The contributions of each category and their intertwining made it possible to understand the importance of deconstructing the social and cultural standards that govern the world, especially in the field of sexuality, so that people with different corporalities can exist and gain legitimacy and belonging. In sport, the management of bodies is not based on performance, but on their corporeality and the manipulation of athletes' bodies, especially those with hyperandrogeny, appears as violence that is supported by regimes of truths and discursive practices. Sport is still a place of exclusion for intersex people, who need to keep their condition hidden so that they can continue practicing. It is urgent and necessary to (re)recognize the intersex subject as an identity that is as legitimate as the existing ones.