The Interconnected Histories of Endocrinology and Eligibility in Women’s Sport

2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D. Rogol ◽  
Lindsay Parks Pieper
Keyword(s):  
Female Athletes ◽  
International Association ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
International Olympic Committee ◽  
Elite Sport ◽  
Women's Sport ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development

This report illustrates the links between history, sport, endocrinology, and genetics to show the ways in which historical context is key to understanding the current conversations and controversies about who may compete in the female category in elite sport. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) introduced hyperandrogenemia regulations for women’s competitions in 2011, followed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2012 Olympics. The policies concern female athletes who naturally produce higher-than-average levels of testosterone and want to compete in the women’s category. Hyperandrogenemia guidelines are the current effort in a long series of attempts to determine women’s eligibility scientifically. Scientific endeavors to control who may participate as a woman illustrate the impossibility of neatly classifying competitors by sex and discriminate against women with differences of sex development (also called intersex by some).

scholarly journals Atypical Athletic Corporeality and Clinical Embodied Deviance: A Case Study of Dutee Chand

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isha Malhotra ◽  
◽  
Raj Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
International Association ◽  
International Olympic Committee ◽  
Biological Mechanism ◽  
Elite Sport ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development ◽  
Regulatory Bodies

The paper outlines the politics of gendered athleticism appropriated and instrumentalised through the medico-juridical apparatus of the sports governing bodies. The biomedical discourse governing the atypical athletic body and the embodied nature of its pathologised deviancy is drawn through the critical reflection of athletic regulatory bodies’ testing regimes and policies. It is through the detailed analysis of the Indian sprinter Dutee Chand’s case that one of many confounding disqualification charges and trials of hyperandrogenism against athletes with differences of sex development (DSD’s) is foregrounded. Drawing on the critical scholarship of gender theorists and activists, the legitimacy of the stipulated biological mechanism of testosterone as a regulatory performance index in female elite sport is contested and problematized. Pertinent here is Dutee Chand’s narrative of trial and triumph that destabilises the reductive embodiments of sex institutionalised in and beyond the sporting track. Significantly, the paper also delineates the premises of the constitutive exclusionary and arbitrary regulatory regimes propounded by the athletic governing bodies like the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These concerns border on the geopolitics of race and nation framing the normative, prescriptive and reserved rights of femininity, able-bodiedness and heteronormativity in international women’s elite sport.

scholarly journals Hyperandrogenism in Female Athletes

2018 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelica Lindén Hirschberg
Keyword(s):  
Female Athletes ◽  
Normal Response ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development

New regulations for eligibility of female athletes with hyperandrogenism are restricted to differences of sex development, normal response to testosterone, and middle distance track disciplines.

scholarly journals Integrating Transwomen and Female Athletes with Differences of Sex Development (DSD) into Elite Competition: The FIMS 2021 Consensus Statement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair R. Hamilton ◽  
Giscard Lima ◽  
James Barrett ◽  
Leighton Seal ◽  
Alexander Kolliari-Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Consensus Statement ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development

scholarly journals Caster Semenya, athlete classification, and fair equality of opportunity in sport

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 584-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigmund Loland
Keyword(s):  
International Association ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Caster Semenya ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development ◽  
Fair Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Performance Development ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right

According to the Differences of Sex Development (DSD) Regulations of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Caster Semenya and other athletes with heightened testosterone levels are considered non-eligible for middle distance running races in the women’s class. Based on an analysis of fair equality of opportunity in sport, I take a critical look at the Semenya case and at IAAF’s DSD Regulations. I distinguish between what I call stable and dynamic inequalities between athletes. Stable inequalities are those that athletes cannot impact or control in any significant way such as inequalities in biological sex, body size and chronological age. Dynamic inequalities, such as inequalities in strength, speed and endurance, or in technical and tactical skills, can be impacted and to a certain extent controlled by athletes. If stable inequalities exert significant and systematic impact on performance, they provide a rationale for classification. If high testosterone level is an inborn, strong and systemic driver of performance development, inequalities in such levels can provide a rationale for classification. As is emphasised by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), this leads to a dilemma of rights: the right of Semenya to compete in sport according to her legal sex and gender identity, and the right of other athletes within the average female testosterone range to compete under fair conditions. I conclude with providing conditional support of the CAS decision in the Semenya case and of IAAF’s DSD Regulations.

Female Olympians’ voices: Female sports categories and International Olympic Committee Transgender guidelines

2021 ◽  
pp. 101269022110215
Author(s):  
Cathy Devine
Keyword(s):  
Female Athletes ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
International Olympic Committee ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Fair Inclusion ◽  
Female Sports ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Unanimous Agreement

The fair inclusion of female athletes at elite and Olympic levels is secured in most sports by way of female categories because of the extensively documented biological and performance-related differences between the sexes. International policy for transgender inclusion is framed by the definitive International Olympic Committee transgender guidelines in which the International Olympic Committee confirms the ‘overriding sporting objective is and remains the guarantee of fair competition’ and transwomen can be excluded from female categories if, in the interests of fairness, this is necessary and proportionate. Feminist theorists argue justice requires that women have equal moral standing in the sociocultural–political structures of society including sport. As such their voices should carry equal democratic weight. However, female elite and Olympic athletes are rarely heard in the sociocultural–political discourses of academic literature or policy formulation for transgender inclusion in female categories by the International Olympic Committee and governing bodies of sport. This empirical study investigated the views and presents the ‘voices’ of 19 female Olympians. The main findings include (1) these athletes thought both female and transgender athletes should be fairly included in elite sport, (2) unanimous agreement there is not enough scientific evidence to show no competitive advantage for transwomen, (3) unanimous agreement that the International Olympic Committee should revisit the rules and scientific evidence for transgender inclusion in female categories, and (4) the majority of athletes felt that they could not ask questions or discuss this issue without being accused of transphobia.

Recalled and current gender role behavior, gender identity and sexual orientation in adults with Disorders/Differences of Sex Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Callens ◽  
Maaike Van Kuyk ◽  
Jet H. van Kuppenveld ◽  
Stenvert L.S. Drop ◽  
Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Gender Role ◽  
Role Behavior ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Gender Role Behavior ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development

scholarly journals Assembling the jigsaw puzzle: CBX2 isoform 2 and its targets in disorders/differences of sex development

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 785-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Sproll ◽  
Wassim Eid ◽  
Camila R. Gomes ◽  
Berenice B. Mendonca ◽  
Nathalia L. Gomes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Jigsaw Puzzle ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Differences Of Sex Development
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