"A Lab Is Set to Test the Gender of Some Female Athletes"
And with that, my hackles went up. "What is this?!", I thought. "Are we still attempting to define gender by, as the article says, 'an athlete’s external appearance, hormones and genes', as though this will give definitive answers? Has Anne Fausto-Sterling's work reached no one of influence?"
Then I read the article, and was delightfully surprised by the discussion, which included the following complex statements, reported matter-of-factly:
Might our understanding of gender actually be advancing? I'm tentatively excited.Although the verification test has changed to adapt to new scientific understandings about gender — athletes are now evaluated by an endocrinologist, gynecologist, a geneticist and a psychologist — critics say the test is based on the false idea that someone’s sex is a cut-and-dried issue.
“It’s very difficult to define what is a man and what is a woman at this point,” said Christine McGinn, a plastic surgeon who specializes in transgender medicine.
Because of a range of genetic conditions, people who look like women may have a Y chromosome, while people who look like men may not, she said. Many times, the people do not learn of the defects until they reach adulthood. “It gets really complicated very quickly,” McGinn said.
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3 comments:
The Olympics are a symbol of equality to me. Each athlete has the same opportunity to compete. I agree with the idea of making sure the games are fair. With the issue of banned/illegal drugs, I think this seems to be the next logical step in ensuring each competitor is meeting the requirements for their sport and/or gender. While this seems to be an invasion of privacy, most Olympic athletes give up some privacy when it comes to their medical/physical condition.
Do I think this is ethical? No, if they are truly only selecting those athletes that may look like the opposite sex. There have been times I am not sure if a person is a man or woman. Most of the time it doesn't matter. But a don't want a "man" following me into the ladies room and I don't think most men want a woman following them.
That being said athletes are held to a higher standard. When our children look for heroes most turn to sports figures. I can't imagine finding out that my sports hero cheated. Harsh word but it is a form of cheating, if knowingly trying to bear false witness. For those cases when an athlete is not aware of a genetic condition then they should be able to participate in their sport as the gender they have entered as.
Now I insert foot into mouth. I do not think individuals who have undergone non-life threatening procedures (sex change operations) should be allowed to compete as their new sex. Regardless of hormone injections and outward physical changes (sex organs), a person (in my mind own), is the sex they were born (male or female). I will always have hazel eyes no matter what color contacts I wear.
They have a moral obligation to uphold the rules of the games. These athletes are not just representing themselves, they are representing a nation/country of people. Their actions reflect on their country and culture.
As a child the Olympics was the one event or time when the countries of the world truly embraced each other. We are one world.
One look on fairness is that if a female, born a male, competes in the Olympics true outcomes might not be the same because of the different body structure. There are certain skills that each gender is built to excel in, I think in some sports this will give transgendered individuals an unnatural advantage.
While I respect your feelings about gender and some of the issues here, I'd like to break down some uses of "natural" and the idea of two sexes. The issue is this: there are not only two distinct sexes. This has been proven throughout medicine (and I'll point again specifically to the work of Anne Fausto-Sterling), and has historical significance in many cultures. Several cultures (including some Native American and Indian cultures) actually have a third gender as part of their understanding of sex/gender; treatment of those born in this category range from high respect (being seen as mystical, blessed, or powerful) to extreme disdain.
Many systems work together to create "sex" in a human being. Sex is not simply a matter of genetics, or external sexual characteristics, or hormones. Estimates of the prevalence of people born "intersexed", with some variation outside of male/female, range from 1:100 to 1:2000 (i.e. 1 baby out of every 100-2000 babies is born with some level of sex ambiguity -- a relatively high number at either end of the variation), with variations based on how "intersexed" is defined.
This, then, does not even touch on social constructions of what it means to be male/female//man/woman, which brings in far more complication.
We step in dangerous ground when we start claiming that women and men are "naturally" or "biologically" built for different things. This is often the very basis of sex discrimination. Yes, in broad comparison, generally men are bigger, stronger, and faster. But in a specific, individual perspective, we see people in a range, and certainly some women are stronger, faster, and bigger than some men.
Again, your personal feelings about transgendered people and sex changes and such -- those are your feelings. And certainly these are issues that need consideration in arenas such as the Olympics, where sex/gender is a clear distinction. However, I did want to make sure that we see the broadness of this issue. I've included a few links below with more medical information on this issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersexual
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001669.htm
http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
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