Sex testing was first introduced to the Olympic Games by Avery Brundage in 1936, in order to halt any athletes trying to disguise their sexual identity. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) have sex-control policies in place on the terms that; sex exists as a binary, sport is a level playing field and intersex athletes have an unfair advantage over others and should be banned. However this logic is not as straight forward as it seems. Overall, sex testing is invasive and can have severe impacts on women who are subjected to them as history has shown.
Sex is a biological construct where genetic factors such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs differentiate between male and female. The claim sex exists as a binary is simply a fabrication. Accepting this claim fails to acknowledge a minority group that exists in society. Intersex is an umbrella term describing people born with variations of internal …show more content…
As it stands the IAAF have until 2017 to present scientific evidence regarding elevated testosterone due to hyperandrogenism after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Dutee Chand who was suspended by the IAAF in 2014 due to hyperandrogenism. Sex testing is very traumatic for athletes who have strong belief they are female thus have the right to compete as such. September 2007 saw Santhi Soundarajan allegedly consume enough of a veterinary drug to end her life. Many speculate it was because she was stripped of her 2006 Asian Games silver medal for the 800 meters following sex testing protocols (Schultz, 2014). It was reported that the “Indian Olympic Association determined that she did not possess the sexual characteristics of a women” (Schultz, 2014, p.
Sex is a biological construct where genetic factors such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs differentiate between male and female. The claim sex exists as a binary is simply a fabrication. Accepting this claim fails to acknowledge a minority group that exists in society. Intersex is an umbrella term describing people born with variations of internal …show more content…
As it stands the IAAF have until 2017 to present scientific evidence regarding elevated testosterone due to hyperandrogenism after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Dutee Chand who was suspended by the IAAF in 2014 due to hyperandrogenism. Sex testing is very traumatic for athletes who have strong belief they are female thus have the right to compete as such. September 2007 saw Santhi Soundarajan allegedly consume enough of a veterinary drug to end her life. Many speculate it was because she was stripped of her 2006 Asian Games silver medal for the 800 meters following sex testing protocols (Schultz, 2014). It was reported that the “Indian Olympic Association determined that she did not possess the sexual characteristics of a women” (Schultz, 2014, p.