Female athletes of color who don’t conform to typically Western ideals of femininity have historically faced disproportionate scrutiny when it comes to sex testing and false accusations that they are male or transgender, historians and anthropologists say.

Conspiracy theories and misinformation have spread online around tennis superstar Serena Williams, falsely alleging that she was born a man. In 2017, she wrote an open letter to her mother, thanking her for being a role model in facing people who were “too ignorant to understand the power of a Black woman.”

Basketball star Brittney Griner also has faced similar false accusations amid scrutiny over Black women and their bodies that is rooted in historical racism: They are often perceived as not feminine enough, too muscular, intimidating or masculine.