Female athletes of color who don’t conform to typically Western ideals of femininity have historically faced disproportionate scrutiny when it comes to sex testing and false accusations that they are male or transgender, historians and anthropologists say.

Conspiracy theories and misinformation have spread online around tennis superstar Serena Williams, falsely alleging that she was born a man. In 2017, she wrote an open letter to her mother, thanking her for being a role model in facing people who were “too ignorant to understand the power of a Black woman.”

Basketball star Brittney Griner also has faced similar false accusations amid scrutiny over Black women and their bodies that is rooted in historical racism: They are often perceived as not feminine enough, too muscular, intimidating or masculine.

  • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
    42·
    4 months ago

    This racist trope reminds me of when the right-wingers had that conspiracy theory about Michelle Obama’s “too muscular” arms. Their tune never changes.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
      9·
      4 months ago

      Sadly, you’re wrong to use the past tense. Alex Jones and the huge cesspool of far right personalities (and I’m using that term EXTREMELY loosely for some of them such as Rob Dew or however his name is spelled) in which he dwells casually refer to her as “Big Mike” to this day 🤬