Female athletes are still subjected to the equivalent of a sex test, based on whether they appear feminine.

Dutee Chand in her successful appeal against the validity of the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) originally began investigating her after complaints that she “ran like a boy”.
Chand was banned in 2014 after the AFI decided that her androgen (testosterone) levels were above the 10 nmol/L permitted by the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, resulting in her missing the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Androgens, including testosterone, are naturally produced in significant – but varying – levels by both men and women.
Endocrine profiles in 693 elite athletes in the post-competition setting’, found that 16.5% of the ‘male’ athletes had low testosterone levels, and 13.7% of the ‘females’ had high testosterone levels, ‘with complete overlap between the sexes’.
https://t.co/V9Ggi6cJVH
The CAS suspended the regulations in 2015, ruling that the IAAF ‘has not provided sufficient scientific evidence about the qualitative relationship between enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance in hyperandrogenic athletes
[…] The IAAF has not established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Hyperandrogenism Regulations apply only to exclude female athlete that are shown to have a competitive advantage of the same order as that of a male athlete.’
The CAS has gave the IAAF until 27 July 2017 to provide scientific evidence to support its Hyperandrogenism Regulations, however no evidence has been presented to date in 2020.
Whilst the IAAF Regulations seek to impose an upper limit on female athletes, perhaps tellingly, no upper limit has been set for male athletes.
Dr. María José Martínez-Patiño successfully challenged her exclusion from the Spanish Olympic team in 1985 on the grounds that she had androgen insensivity syndrome, a condition in which her body does not respond to testosterone, either natural or synthetic.
Dr. Martínez-Patiño pointed out that any women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome will have elevated testosterone levels, but that does not make them an elite athlete.
If, as testosterone is such an important arbiter of performance as the IAAF argues, then how did Dr. Martínez-Patiño manage to compete to such a high level?
The scientific evidence suggests that testosterone levels vary amongst individuals and medical issues occur when an individual loses the ability to produce the testosterone their physiology requires.
There also is NO scientific evidence that natural (endogenous) testosterone levels are any kind of arbiter of sporting performance.
@threadreaderapp please unroll

More from Kirsti Miller

”No child should ever be forced to live a life that is not theirs, I did and it nearly killed me many times.”


It appears that every time an under-age Transgender person attempts to access medical care to make their lives better conservative people try to say they’re not ready for it.


As an older transgender woman who waited until I my mid 30’s due to those same prevailing attitudes, I feel it’s sad right-wing people are still trotting out those same tired old lines.

According to them, we’re too young to know our gender pre-pubescent and when we start undergoing a puberty which doesn’t align with our gender identity apparently we’re still far too young to access puberty blockers to make the masculinisation process go away.

These people only want us to access medical care after the age of 18 and that’s when it’s far too late for many Trans women, as the whole masculinisation process [which we didn’t want in the first place] has already happened.

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I don't think people understand the vital difference between a well-rehearsed (and physical) team vs a collection of individuals with no real understanding - new players, makeshift centre-backs, other players out of position. Make do an mend when missing a ton of quality = v.hard


Add fatigue,with less option to rotate, and big effort in 3 away games in previous 9 days. Team lacks height and heft without VvD, Matip, Fabinho, Gomez. Team lacks pace and goals without Jota, Mané. Lacks pace at back without VvD and Gomez. No senior keeper undermines confidence

Team has been disrupted constantly this ssn. Rarely below 6 injuries, often = 10. Thiago a real bonus after months out, but the proper team is not around him. Even Gini looked knackered yesterday. 5th/6th-choice strikers and centre-backs will always be a big drop from 1st choices

Last night was a bit grim, and Brighton were excellent. But it was a strong XI for them, in terms of usual players and in terms of physicality. LFC full of skilful slower little guys right now - lacking the skilful bodyguards and pace. Kabak should help, but he's young and new

You can read Mentality Monsters or Perched for how much I talk about the unity of a team, the practiced understanding from years of intense training together, knowing each others runs and movements. Right now it's a team of semi-strangers and stand-ins.

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