ABSTRACT
There is a lack of data on trans people’s physical activity and sport participation and a lack of knowledge regarding the personal and sociocultural factors that affect their experiences and have consequences for their further engagement. To fill these gaps, this chapter first presents a brief review of the available international knowledge regarding these issues. It then focuses on the main results of two studies developed in Spain to understand trans people’s participation in physical activity and sport as well as the sociocultural factors that affect their participation in this particular European context. The results indicated that trans people’s level of participation was similar to that of the general population of Spanish young adults. However, it took place mainly in unorganised and individual physical activities and sports that require less body exposure to others. Several sociocultural factors experienced by trans people (e.g. gender-affirmed body appearance, undesired effects of hormone treatment, hyper-normative sports spaces, unrecognised legal gender identity, and negative experiences in physical education), which are not experienced by cisgender people, affected their participation in physical activity and sport. Given this unfair situation, the promotion of trans persons’ participation in physical activity and sport contexts becomes a matter of social justice that needs to be achieved.
