MDX academic calls for fitness workers to have training on transgender issues

One study found that 58 per cent of LGBTQI+ people did not meet the minimum physical activity levels to maintain good health

A Middlesex University alumni and academic is calling for gym and fitness centre staff to have training around transgender issues to increase the participation of gender diverse people in physical activity and exercise.

Dr Hannah Newman, an academic in Sport and Exercise Psychology , has been researching the barriers facing the gender diverse community in non-competitive sports, exercise, and physical activity.

A recent research paper which she has co-written - Challenges accessing physical activity from a transgender perspective: A systematic review – highlights how a health survey conducted by the National LGB&T Partnership in 2015 found that 58 per cent of LGBTQI+ people did not meet the minimum physical activity levels to maintain good health, compared to 41 per cent in the general population.

"Gyms are incredibly gendered in the way they are set up and marketed and we know how women face barriers just entering weight rooms because of their unspoken gendered nature. There is a lot of work required on breaking down the culture in these space."  Dr Hannah Newman, an academic in Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Exercise and physical activity can improve mental health and be associated with higher levels of body image and self-esteem, according to the paper.

Challenges facing access to physical activity for gender-diverse people revolve around the idea of ‘gender binary’ systems and spaces, which result in “exclusionary policies, gendered clothing and problems with changing facilities”, the paper argued.

In particular, the academics claim gyms have been found to reinforce normalised ideals of sexual orientation and gendered body ideals of masculinity related to strength and thinness as feminine which “pose barriers for gender-diverse people”.

Dr Newman said: “What academic literature is out there and the ongoing debates largely focus on competitive athletes and how they should be categorised in elite sport and less of the attention has been on a non-athlete general population and participation in physical activity and exercise.

“In terms of how to increase physical activity among the gender diverse community, a lot of this comes down to the fitness and leisure industries being the biggest provider of those spaces so the question must be what can we do within those environments?

“There has been very little attention paid to this kind of activity from a research perspective in the fitness industry.

“There’s got to be greater education and awareness for people working in those spaces.

“Gyms are incredibly gendered in the way they are set up and marketed and we know how women face barriers just entering weight rooms because of their unspoken gendered nature.

“There is a lot of work required on breaking down the culture in these spaces, and there’s no quick fix, but one obvious first step would be training people within the industry around working with transgender and gender diverse people, so they could understand what the different considerations may be to ensure people feel welcome within those spaces – because that’s currently not the case.”

Another solution could be creating LGBTQI+ spaces in gyms and leisure centres, but this is not a permanent fix, added Dr Newman.

“LGBT+ spaces can be helpful in the short term because there are so many barriers and having spaces people can feel comfortable in is important and necessary, but in the long term there shouldn’t be a need to be comfortable only in a designated LGBT+ environment,” she said.

The new research paper, co-authored by Dr Emily Pattinson from Newcastle University and sport and exercise psychologist Dr Laura Kiemle-Gabbay, has been peer reviewed and published in the British Psychological Society’s Sport & Exercise Psychology Review journal.

Dr Newman is planning further research on transgender inclusion in fitness industry, gym and personal trainer courses.

She will also be co-leading a new MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology starting at Middlesex University in September at the impressive new Sports Science facilities in the West Stand of Saracens’ Stone X Stadium.

Find out more about the course.

Photo by Raphael Renter on Unsplash.