For International Women's Day (March 8) this year, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education has partnered with Innis College and the Cinema Studies Institute for a special screening of Category: Woman, a documentary film by KPE alumna and former Olympian Phyllis Ellis. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Ellis, KPE Associate Professor Caroline Fusco, U of T doctoral student of sociology Ali Greey, middle distance runner Anett Negesa and athlete right advocate Payoshni Mitra, moderated by former sport journalist Mary Ormsby.
Phyllis Ellis sees a lot of similarities between making a film and succeeding in sport.
“The hours and hours and hours of preparation. The sort of monomaniacal focus. The idea that you can never give up. Fighting to the finish … There’s a total commitment, and also a lot of learning that happens from both successes and failures,” says Ellis, an alumna of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education.
Ellis represented Canada in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where she played for the Canadian field hockey team, before embarking on a career of filmmaking, acting and producing. Her latest work – Category: Woman – focuses on four athletes from the Global South who were forced out of competition by regulations that deem women with naturally high androgen levels to have a performance advantage.
The International Amateur Athletics Federation (now World Athletics) ruled that in order to compete, these female athletes must medically alter their healthy bodies. The regulations came at the heels of Caster Semenya bursting onto the world stage in 2009. The South African runner’s results were overshadowed by doubt and her personal medical records leaked to international media.
Ellis says she was drawn to the story after meeting some of the athletes and Payoshni Mitra, an activist who has been advocating on their behalf.
“The policing of women's bodies in sport is an ongoing issue that continues under the guise of fair play,” says Ellis.
On this International Women’s Day, March 8, the Faculty has partnered with Innis College and the Cinema Studies Institute for a special screening of Category: Woman, followed by a panel discussion featuring Ellis, KPE Associate Professor Caroline Fusco, U of T doctoral student of sociology Ali Greey, middle distance runner Anett Negesa and athlete right advocate Payoshni Mitra, moderated by former sport journalist Mary Ormsby. Attendance is free, but registration is required.
“I hope viewers of our documentary will walk away from the movie with an understanding that inclusion, prevention of harm, nondiscrimination and primacy of bodily autonomy is what a level playing field actually is,” says Ellis.