Calabrese, Daniel2021-10-082021-10-082021-06https://hdl.handle.net/1794/26746111 pagesThe inclusion of trans athletes in the competitive sports arena has been challenged by committees and organizations for decades. Even today, as representation of the trans community becomes more accepted by the public, many face discrimination and violence from those who they would consider to be their peers, teammates, and supporters. Their right to participate still remains open for contention when it comes to their gender identity, regardless of their qualifications to perform the sport they chose. This paper hopes to shed light on the challenges that these athletes face by looking through the lens of dance, a sport with a very gender role defined history. Contemporary and modern dance were created as divergent expressions from classical ballet. Many young dancers begin training in ballet where the environment can be highly competitive and unhealthy. For young women, dance can be particularly challenging as an ideal body image is placed on them from a young age. For trans men, assigned female at birth, not only may they face the same scrutiny as women, they are doing so while facing feelings of gender dysphoria. They look to tools like commercial binders and other constraining apparel configurations to achieve an appearance of a flat chest to assuage these feelings of dysphoria. Not only is this uncomfortable, it restricts their breathing, impedes their posture, and can lead to long term health complications. It is the author’s belief that if these athletes and dancers are given tools to perform and train comfortably as their gender identity versus their gender expression they can grow and improve in their respective disciplines. Through researching the current market of products that the trans community utilizes in order to alleviate feelings of gender dysphoria, valuable insight into what works and what does not will allow a hypothesis to form around the type of product that needs to be created in order to properly support the dancer’s needs. Further research will be conducted around the materials and manufacturing methods that exist for state of the art product that will allow deeper understanding into how this new product might be manufactured. Finally, intellectual property in the form of patents will be researched as well as current color and graphics in order to create and develop a collection of styles that will be unique in their design, function, and appearance. It is the belief of the author that if trans athletes are given more opportunities to grow and perform, they will gain recognition. With further recognition comes more in depth conversation of proper inclusion and representation in an effort to reduce stigma at the onset of participation and garnering a new wave of inclusion where inclusion is necessary.enCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USdance apparelbody dysmorphiaTerminal Project