August 22, 2019

Unfair eligibility regulations for female athletes

by two students

Did you know that at the ancient Olympic Games male athletes had to compete nude to
ensure that no woman could cheat her way in? Historically, females have been repeatedly
denied access to sport. They were not allowed to participate in the ancient games (776 BC),
nor were they included when the first modern games were arranged in 1896. Shockingly
enough, female athletes were ultimately permitted to compete in 1900, and despite this
giant step for them, it has not been all rosy. Since women started to take part in sports, they
have been subjected to decades of inequitable scientific tests and invasive procedures to
verify their sex, such as humiliating physical inspections (mainly focused on genitalia) and
doubtful chromosomal analyses. Now, monitoring high levels of testosterone (or
hyperandrogenism) is the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) latest
attempt to use a biological trait to police the boundaries of sex. Therefore, women who
naturally have high levels of testosterone in their blood must undergo superfluous medical
treatments to be “womanly enough” to compete. Given this, we vehemently believe that
this regulation is neither a fair requirement nor a reliable measure to determine the
eligibility of female athletes, besides it violates women’s integrity and stereotypes their
bodies.

The testosterone examination is specifically used to verify a competitor’s sex so that she
can be categorized into female’s events (IAAF, 2011). A woman with hyperandrogenism is
not eligible for that classification, hence she is labeled as intersex or diagnosed as having
Differences of Sexual Development (DSD). Even though this sex verification process is
compulsory for women, there is no parallel examination or requirement for men; we must
remark that the main issue is that this regulation unjustly targets female competitors. For
instance, South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya has been under intense
scrutiny because, according to the IAAF, her naturally occurring high levels of testosterone
give her an “unfair advantage” over other women, justifying that the discrimination against
her is necessary and reasonable (Schultz, 2019). Behind this rhetoric, there is record of
other female athletes, such as Indian runner Dutee Chand and Spanish hurdler Maria José
Martínez-Patiño, who had to endure the same difficulty. Indeed, it has not been questioned
why men are not also tested for hormonal or other “genetic advantages.” Clearly, the
testosterone regulation is inconsistent and dubious, and fails to maintain a “fair” playing
field for both women and men.

We acknowledge that it might be logical for some people to think that high levels of
testosterone can enhance a woman’s physical prowess. However, this belief is due to the
mistaken understanding that men’s high-quality athletic performance is achieved because
of this sex hormone solely. In fact, Karkazis, Jordan-Young, Davis, & Camporesi (2012)
argue that the responses to testosterone greatly differ from person to person, and that it
would be thoughtless to say that athletes with more testosterone have greater advantage. In
this sense, these authors conclude that this hormone “is just one element in a complex
neuroendocrine feedback system” (p. 9), which means that there is a plethora of other
aspects that could determine an athlete’s success. Associate Counsel Annie Bach Yen
Nguyen (2018) makes a contribution to the aforementioned argument and asserts that the
IAAF’s regulation fails to address crucial factors such as nutrition, training, and endurance.
Certainly, this understanding challenges the view of those sports governing bodies that
have long believed that male athletes have natural physical superiority over women.
Following this idea, Cooky and Dworkin (2013) emphasize that although social science
and biomedical research have proven this assumption fallacious, the IAAF only perpetuates
this conception for the sake of “fair” competitions. Undoubtedly, the authors attest that the
testosterone regulation is eminently unreliable because it is based on obsolete science.

Pursuing this issue further, foregoing evidence suggests that not only does the IAAF
dismiss crucial factors that do enhance athletic performance, but it also embraces old-
fashioned ways of understanding sex and gender. This sport organization follows the ideas
of gender essentialism, this is, men and women are considered different due to
unchangeable innate characteristics that make them utterly disparate (Krech, 2017).
Consequently, women and men are attributed biological and anatomical traits that are
narrow, dichotomous, and stereotypical. The problem arises when a woman exhibits
“masculine” traits because she must endure unnecessary feminizing procedures to reach the
expected female range in order to compete (Karkazis, et al., 2012). However, as you might
realize, physical and organic variances go beyond strict opposites. In fact, a study
published in Clinical Endocrinology journal shows that, out of 693 elite athletes, 14% of
women exceeded the common female range, whereas 16.5% of men had testosterone levels
below the expected standard for males, and almost 2% fell within the female range (Healy,
Gibney, Pentecost, Wheeler, &Sonksen, 2014). It can be argued then that testosterone is a
natural hormonal trait that overlaps regardless of sexes, making it not relevant for sex
determination. Undeniably, this finding has important implications for the recognition of
sex and gender as a spectrum, and for the protection of human integrity and diversity.

All things considered, the IAAF-funded testosterone regulation does not adequately
address the concerns about fairness and integrity in sports. As we have argued, athletic
performance is not bolstered by testosterone solely, instead, it is the result of a complex
equation of factors. Therefore, if sport organizations continue to regulate the participation
of women with hyperandrogenism, then they will create an egregious and discriminatory
narrative around them. We strongly believe that IAAF’s partiality towards female athletes
has muddled their notion of fair competition, thus begetting the creation of labels and
categorizations without scientific evidence or ethical consideration. Furthermore, although
for some sports governing bodies this might seem trivial, the testosterone regulation is
indeed part of a bigger social conundrum in today’s concern over gender equality.
Certainly, the discussion about women with hyperandrogenism shed new light on how to
address biological diversity and debunk this sex dichotomy.
References
Cooky, C., & Dworkin, S. L. (2013). Policing the boundaries of sex: A critical examination
of gender verification and the Caster Semenya controversy. Journal of Sex
Research, 50(2), 103-111.

Healy, M. L., Gibney, J., Pentecost, C., Wheeler, M. J., &Sonksen, P. H. (2014). Endocrine
profiles in 693 elite athletes in the postcompetition setting. Clinical endocrinology,
81(2), 294-305.

International Association of Athletics Federations. (2011, May 1). IAAF Regulations

governing eligibility of females with hyperandrogenism to compete in women’s
competition. Retrieved fromhttps://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/02/IAAF-Regulations-Governing-Eligibility-of-Females-
with-Hyperandrogenism-to-Compete-in-Women%E2%80%99s-Competition-In-
force-as-from-1st-May-2011-6.pdf

Karkazis, K., Jordan-Young, R., Davis, G., &Camporesi, S. (2012). Out of bounds? A
critique of the new policies on hyperandrogenism in elite female athletes. The
American Journal of Bioethics, 12(7), 3-16.

Krech, M. (2017). To Be a Woman in the World of Sport: Global Regulation of the Gender
Binary in Elite Athletics. Berkeley J. Int'l L., 35, 262.

Nguyen, A. B. Y. (2018). Fairness at a price: protecting the integrity of

athleticcompetitions at the expense of female athletes. Notre Dame J. Int'l Comp.
L., 8, 54.

Schultz, J. (2019, May 6). Caster Semenya, Testosterone and the History of Gender
Segregation in Sports. LiveScience.com. Retrieved from:
https://www.livescience.com/65412-caster-semenya-testosterone-gender-
segregation.html