Figure skating has a long way to go to fully reckon with the intertwined ways that patriarchy, homophobia, and racism occur and the resulting harms done to athletes, from Olympic stars down to kids in the learn-to-skate program. It is a fiercely gendered sport, especially in pairs skating.
My pairs partner, Erica Rand, and I are challenging those binary gender norms. In doing so, we are also hoping to open up the sport we love to people of all genders and gender expressions.
