Most Challenging Event in Olympics: Gender Testing

[3113]

An apt topic and intriguing topic for the AH, I think:

Of all the obstacles athletes have had to overcome to compete in the Olympics, perhaps the most controversial has been the gender test. Originally designed to prevent men from competing in women's events, it is based on the premise that competitors can be sorted into two categories via established scientific rules. But the biological boundaries of gender aren't always clear.

Consider the Spanish hurdler Maria Jose Martinez-Patiño. A gender test revealed that she had a Y chromosome, which normally makes a person male. She also had complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, or CAIS, which prevented her body from responding properly to testosterone and caused her to develop as a woman. The Spanish Athletic Federation got her test results in 1986, just before a major competition that would have set her up for an Olympic run. Though she won the 60-meter hurdles, the federation declared her ineligible for the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.

Full story here. Well worth reading.

As said, the fear is always that a man is posing as a woman (never vice versa) which means all these female athletes have had to suffer through all kinds of indignities and crazy tests since the accusation first arose in 1936 when American sprinter Helen Stephens won the Berlin games--and apparently upset a lot of people.

The latest test is measuring testosterone which would qualify someone like Maria there. What's very interesting is that Maria's CAIS is relatively common among Olympians, much more so than in the general population.

 

[Handley_Page]

I saw a bit of the ladies' weight-lifting the other night.
There was one contestant who did not look like 'all female' to me, and I wondered about those drugs and tests (remember the East EU gymnasts before the Wall came down?).

Spooky !

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I don't know, I think there might be greater challenges.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Dey iz no gender test, yo iz whatever yo say you iz accordin to duh Librulz. But eff you be testin fo sex, dat sumptin elz.

 

[ishtat]

An apt topic and intriguing topic for the AH, I think:

Full story here. Well worth reading.

As said, the fear is always that a man is posing as a woman (never vice versa) which means all these female athletes have had to suffer through all kinds of indignities and crazy tests since the accusation first arose in 1936 when American sprinter Helen Stephens won the Berlin games--and apparently upset a lot of people.

But, had Stella Walsh( Stanislawa Walasiawicz) had to suffer these "indignities and crazy tests" we would actually know the name of the woman who won the race in 1932 rather than the man Stella.

Objectionable they may be, but the tests are unfortunately necessary. The cases of the Russians Irina and Tamara Press are similarly problematic.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There is no gender test, you are what you say you are, according to the liberal view. If you're testing for sex, that's something else.

Quite so.