News and Events => People news => Topic started by: Shana A on June 10, 2012, 03:30:43 PM Return to Full Version
Title: Olympics struggle with ‘policing femininity’
Post by: Shana A on June 10, 2012, 03:30:43 PM
Post by: Shana A on June 10, 2012, 03:30:43 PM
Olympics struggle with 'policing femininity'
Published On Fri Jun 08 2012
Stephanie Findlay Staff Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/article/1205025--olympics-struggle-with-policing-femininity (http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/article/1205025--olympics-struggle-with-policing-femininity)
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA— There are female athletes who will be competing at the Olympic Games this summer after undergoing treatment to make them less masculine.
Still others are being secretly investigated for displaying overly manly characteristics, as sport's highest medical officials attempt to quantify — and regulate — the hormonal difference between male and female athletes.
[...]
In a move critics call "policing femininity," recent rule changes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, state that for a woman to compete, her testosterone must not exceed the male threshold.
If it does, she must have surgery or receive hormone therapy prescribed by an expert IAAF medical panel and submit to regular monitoring. So far, at least a handful of athletes — the figure is confidential — have been prescribed treatment, but their numbers could increase. Last month, the International Olympic Committee began the approval process to adopt similar rules for the Games.
South Africa is ground zero of the debate. An estimated 1 per cent of the 50 million people here are born "intersex," meaning they don't fit typical definitions of male or female.
Published On Fri Jun 08 2012
Stephanie Findlay Staff Reporter
http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/article/1205025--olympics-struggle-with-policing-femininity (http://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/article/1205025--olympics-struggle-with-policing-femininity)
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA— There are female athletes who will be competing at the Olympic Games this summer after undergoing treatment to make them less masculine.
Still others are being secretly investigated for displaying overly manly characteristics, as sport's highest medical officials attempt to quantify — and regulate — the hormonal difference between male and female athletes.
[...]
In a move critics call "policing femininity," recent rule changes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, state that for a woman to compete, her testosterone must not exceed the male threshold.
If it does, she must have surgery or receive hormone therapy prescribed by an expert IAAF medical panel and submit to regular monitoring. So far, at least a handful of athletes — the figure is confidential — have been prescribed treatment, but their numbers could increase. Last month, the International Olympic Committee began the approval process to adopt similar rules for the Games.
South Africa is ground zero of the debate. An estimated 1 per cent of the 50 million people here are born "intersex," meaning they don't fit typical definitions of male or female.