Oh yeah, this is going to end well.

[sabrarosa]

IOC Wants Gender Testing for 'Ambiguous' Athletes

Elite athletes like South African runner Semenya, who identifies as female but exhibits "male characteristics," soon may have to undergo gender testing and even treatment at special Olympic centers before they can compete. The International Olympic Committee wants to establish the centers to deal

Comments

[juliet316]

I was waiting for this to show up at the usual places (here, sf_drama, ontd_political ever since I saw this in the paper today. Yeah, this is going to end real well

So when should we expect picketing at the IOC?

[sabrarosa]

Bingo! You've identified yet another reason why the IOC and media in general are going to fuck it all up.

[balivatn]

Exactly.

This is not going to end well on a variety of levels.

[danaelaurm]

The problem tho, remains "well, we've determined you're not either according to our statistical distribution models, so we're kinda screwed, brb"

[lookninjas]

So. Wait. How are they to determine what constitutes "gender ambiguity," exactly? Because as near as I can tell, the whole issue with Caster Semenya started because she was considered too fast and too muscular to be a woman. And I fucking resent that shit on a million goddamn levels.

[sabrarosa]

Considering that they started the investigation because other athletes complained about her, I'm kind of scared about what would cause them to do these investigations. I am also frightened by their proposal to do "treatment" for "disorders".

[linda_mah]

ugh the "treatment" for "disorders" thing bothers the hell out of me too. There is nothing with Semenya, she is perfectly healthy and in better shape that pretty much anyone. What exactly are they intending to treat?

I'm really against unnecessary surgeries, if her undescended testes aren't causing any health problems I don't see any reason to remove them. The whole idea of "you need to have surgery to meet my standards" is all kinds of fucked.

[danaelaurm]

Considering the terminology "disorders of sex development" comes from a non-intersex academic researcher who has regularly publish pretty disgusting pro-eugenics articles on intersex people, I'd be more than a bit scared that anyone uses that bullshit wording.

[lookninjas]

As a matter of fact, I do. I also remember Dara Torres being accused of using performance-enhancing drugs despite repeated negative tests, because she looks awfully mannish and she swims awfully fast for her age. I also remember the constant litany of "Lance Armstrong is doping! He has to be!" comments coming from the French media a few years back. Same thing is currently happening with Usain Bolt. There's been no positive tests for any of these athletes, but their competitors sure like to raise the doping spectre when they can't seem to catch up.

At the end of the day, strength and speed and physical appearance aren't absolute indicators that someone's got too much testosterone in them. Hell, XY chromosomes aren't positive indicators for that. Look at Maria Patino. This kind of testing does occasionally manage to catch cheats; I'm not arguing that. It also forces far too many female athletes to go through testing that is invasive, humiliating, and far, far too public for my liking. And it reinforces the belief that female

[danaelaurm]

A thousand times that, it looks like all these rules are there mostly just to vindicate the idea that a female athlete should be there to shut down the feminists but never be allowed to remotely equal the men because the gods forbid a man should ever be second to a woman at the top of a sport.

[lookninjas]

What's funny is that, although Caster Semenya has already broken records in South Africa, she's only broken records in South Africa. She hasn't broken the World Junior's Record, and she's not in the top ten for the women's 800. She's very accomplished and she's definitely got room to grow, but her times aren't that exceptional. It seems like the only reason for this sudden concern about her secondary sexual characteristics is her physical appearance. It's body panic. And it's frustrating to me

[le_femmenoir]

This is fucked the fuck up. >:[