In an Op-Ed for last Sunday's New York Times, Jennifer Finney Boylan, an English professor who's written before about gender issues, includes a history of gender-testing at the Olympics. Why gender testing? It's predicated on the idea that men would have an unfair physical advantage competing in women's events. But as medical knowledge has advanced, it's become clear that there are exceptions to just about any bipolar rule that tries to classify men vs. women. Y chromosome? Some women have a Y chromosome, but develop as women because of conditions like androgen insensitivity. Transsexuals? They're now allowed to compete under certain conditions, though it hasn't been tested -- at least not openly, as Boylan points out. It's an interesting read -- and raises a few issues about "what is a woman?" applicable outside of Olympics sports.
- The XY Games: The Sex Tests for Olympic Athletes Are Profoundly Flawed - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
- Related: Women of the Summer Olympics - Top Women Olympians
- Related: Pictures of Women at the Olympics
Comments
The IOC decided to stop testing for gender over two years ago. Get some accurate current information at least. This is supposed to be an information site coorect? Does anyone quality check here?
Of course we aim for accuracy, and did not make the claim about current IOC policy that you imply was made. I’m pointing to the history of gender testing, as is the article. Besides that focus, though, this topic is in the news because, to quote the story linked in the blog post, “the organizers of the Beijing Olympics announced that they had set up a ‘gender determination lab’ to test female athletes suspected of being male. ‘Experts’ at the lab will evaluate athletes based on their physical appearance and take blood samples to test hormones, genes and chromosomes.” That, according to many news stories out of Beijing, is accurate: the organizers are prepared to test female athletes but only if there are suspicions that are formally raised as complaints.
I hope that clears up your misunderstanding of what was posted.