In the world of sports, as in all the fields of life, it continues to be believed that all human beings can be assigned to one of the two main sex categories.
The practice of sex verification
‘Sex verification’ started so that males do not have the undue advantage to compete with the ‘weaker gender’ under disguise. Initially, these tests were mandatory, where all the women had to pull down their pants and lift up their shirts to be scrutinized by a group of doctors.
Later, these tests were carried out on the bases of chromosomes and hormone levels as well.
Some women have undergone psychological stress as a result of these practices, when they were dragged down from the top of their careers and the newspapers accused them of not being ‘enough of a woman’.
To avoid the media attention, now, these tests are carried out only if there is suspicion.
One such case is of an Indian athlete Dutee Chand. Her coaches reported that she looked suspiciously masculine.
She underwent sex verification tests and was told that these tests were routine. To check the effect of testosterone, she had to undergo measuring and palpating of the clitoris, vagina and labia as well as measuring of breast size along with some lab tests.
This evaluation was according to the protocol of the International Association of Athletics Federation. Alarmingly, she was told to draw back and end her career. Currently, she is fighting a case against IAAF.
Also read: How Do The Everyday Objects Around Us Reinforce Gender Stereotypes?
The biology behind it
Usually the sex of a person in sports is decided based on three criterions
1) genetic makeup
2) hormonal balance and
3) genital organs.
If everyone was to go under sex verification, most people won’t have all the three linked perfectly as per the norms of the test.
For example, some women have XY chromosomes with undescended testes but due to some hormonal change, they have female genitalia. Some women are born with XX chromosomes but they have ambiguous genitalia.
Others have chromosome patterns, such as X0 or XXX, XXY, XYY which is called the ‘mosaic condition’ where every cell of the body has a different arrangement of sex chromosomes. In other conditions, testosterone levels vary drastically.
These women will never know that they have a body that is not considered to be ‘enough female’, until they are tested for it. They grow up like ‘normal women’ and are able to mother children.
Biologically everybody has a different genetic makeup and levels of hormones. The biology we studied in class 10th, unfortunately, makes us think of every individual as a biologically ‘perfect male’ or ‘perfect female’, belonging to the mainstream binary genders.
With such an education it is inevitable for us to think of some individuals as not being normal. Whereas everyone is normal, be it the ‘biologically perfect male’ or ‘intersex women’.
What makes us think that one category is normal is its huge quantity. The only difference is quantity.
Sex, gender and sexual orientation are all different and one may not choose a straight line, like shown above
It’s unethical
One thing that needs to be established is that maleness and femaleness are not only socially constructed concepts but they are not even biologically constant features at all times.
The first thing to be noted is that these tests, in past, did not involve the consent of the sportsperson.
A different outer makeup of genital organs, for example, small breast or broad shoulders, does not scientifically establish that a particular female will have the advantage over other women in sports.
A different pattern of sex chromosomes will, also not define the strength of a person and females with different chromosome pattern are still women who give birth to children.
A higher level of testosterone, definitely, gives people more strength and muscle mass. However, is it a good enough reason to ban women with a slightly higher level of testosterone?
Some people in a basket ball game are taller than other which gives them advantage over others. Does this mean that only people with a particular height are allowed to participate in basket ball games?
Blacks have more of type II muscle fiber which is great for power lifting whereas whites have more of type I muscle fiber which enables a person to stay in the field for longer hours, since, it possess greater aerobic metabolic capacity.
Does this mean that there should be a different category for different races or that some races should be banned from international games?
On the other hand men do not go under ‘sex verification’. Men with lower testosterone levels are allowed to compete with men having higher level of testosterone level. Only women’s sexuality is open for society to police.
Conclusion
Only two categories based on sex in sports fails to represent minority gender. They have to choose one of the binary genders to play which in a way forces them to be categorised and not represent their own identity.
Alternatively, categorization can be done based on particular physical makeup that is required for a particular sport as it is done in power lifting by categorization on the basis of weight.
Gender is not binary. Everyone has a different genetic makeup and it doesn’t make them any less of a female or a male.
Policing sexuality is not morally correct. Everyone should have the right of choosing their own gender irrespective of their biological sex.
Sources: NY Times, katrinakarkazis.com, notpoliticallycorrect.me
Image Credits: Google Images
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