Hermaphrodites in sports

**Xoria** · 09-15-09, 01:20 PM

Drug testing yes, but they stopped all mandatory sex testing years ago, and now only do it when there's a challenge. The purpose for the test is still stated to prevent a male from knowingly competing as a female..effectively it's a test for fraud. When these tests are conducted, unfortunately, they end up bringing up a whole host of other problems, and they quickly forget their intended purpose.

They stopped mandatory testing of everyone (only girls really, no one thinks a girl might be passing as a guy) because they found too many instances where it did nothing to help the sport, and too many cases (like this one) where someone's career was ruined over speculation and armchair science. It is a controversial test, because often opponents will call for the testing just to ruin someone.

Fraud is the reason I called for eyeballing it...the gender test is to prevent fraud, which is easily determined by looking. Everything else that comes after it, while you and I may think it relative to her ability to compete, is moot until they change the rules. If at some point they want to codify where along the sexuality spectrum a person must fall to compete, that is their right, and maybe they will at some point, but they haven't yet.

So a girl's life and future has been ruined, a sport takes another huge publicity hit, and those who called for the tests can whistle their way home, while the IAAF scrambles to figure out what went wrong...again.

**CivilWars** · 09-15-09, 01:32 PM

By the same token if they did nothing and 5 years from now it came out that she was actually a he, and won multiple Olympic and World Championship medals then what do you tell all those girls/women who lost to her mainly because she had the internals of a man? Hypothetical? Maybe so, but I would hate to tell people everything is "fair" when truly it isn't, so we test her, get the facts, and go from there. If she has the plumbing, and thus chemical makeup, of a woman then she races women, but if not then what?

**Consultant** · 09-15-09, 01:32 PM

Is the debate whether or not a genetic male with male hormones is faster and stronger than a genetic female with female hormones?

In a track race, would a division of competition not be logical based on these genetic factors?

Is a competitor, with genetically male characteristics not at a distinct advantage over a field of female competitors?

Sorry Caster, you're genetically superior to the ladies, so your competing is unfair.

**jmw_man** · 09-15-09, 02:42 PM

imo, there shouldn't be a sex test unless all competitors undergoe this test.

Civil, the medals can be taken away and re-awarded.

**CivilWars** · 09-15-09, 02:45 PM

Ok, you go train your while life for something, lose, then find out later that the person you lost to had an unfair advantage. See if that makes you feel better.

**Consultant** · 09-15-09, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by jmw_man

imo, there shouldn't be a sex test unless all competitors undergo this test.

Civil, the medals can be taken away and re-awarded.

That would lead to lots of unnecessary testing.

Do you also oppose random steroid testing? If some muscle bound beast came into MLB and hit 100 home runs next year, would you oppose steroid testing for him?

**Red_Lizard2** · 09-15-09, 03:18 PM

TBH, when they showed the picture of her (before they had even done the testing etc) when this first came up, it really looked like it could either way.

**Xoria** · 09-15-09, 05:02 PM

My point being, now that they've tested her, and it's leaked, it's ruined everything because she'll never race again...even though she's a girl. A girl with a genetic defect, yes, but when more of the reports come out, and a large percentage of the experts agree that she gets no benefit from her "extra bits" and actually that they'll do her harm...what then?

They can't just apologize and expect her to race again, because anything she wins now will always be in question, regardless of what the tests prove. She wasn't a guy pretending to be a girl, which is the only thing they have a rule against..and how many people would have enjoyed watching her run. All elite athletes are in some way genetically superior, one of the reasons they stopped sex testing was because of the prevalence of things we'd call abnormalities.

You either play by the rules, or make new rules to play by. Every athlete out there knows the rules, and what that could entail, so they shouldn't be surprised at all. It's those of us that don't know them, and don't pay attention who get all caught up, and start fighting about rules that don't exist, because we think it makes sense. The other runners aren't calling for her award to be stripped, because they've lived by the rules their whole careers and they know she didn't break one. We're the ones conjecturing and making hypotheticals and getting all bent..