Testosterone and Women Athletes
Should women athletes with high testosterone levels
be required to take androgen blocking medication in order to be
allowed compete in women's sports? The Court of Arbitration for
Sport ruled that way in May 2019, but many people oppose the
decision. We don't regulate other natural variations; why should
we regulate that one? Should we require people to take medication
to change the way their body naturally functions if it isn't
harming them? Make sure to discuss the arguments on different
sides and what motivates those arguments. You should draw your own
conclusion.
You must include the issue of intersex people in your analysis:
would your answer be different if someone is genetically abnormal
(such as X0, XXY) but it never occurred to anyone that they
weren't female when they were growing up? For example, there are
people who are genetically male but develop as female in utero
because of androgen insensitivity. How sports define who is female
can be a small part of your paper, but do not include the
question of whether transgender women should be able to compete as
women.
If you would ban women athletes with genetic abnormalities, would
you also ban basketball players with Marfan syndrome? If not, how
is that different? You don't have to include that in your paper,
but thinking about it will help you discuss more clearly where you
draw the line.
https://www.wired.com/story/caster-semenya-and-the-twisted-politics-of-testosterone/
https://theconversation.com/so-what-if-some-female-olympians-have-high-testosterone-62935
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-testosterone/2019/10/25/df0fecee-f671-11e9-829d-87b12c2f85dd_story.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/another-female-olympic-athlete-slams-testosterone-rules-refuses-medication-n1008691
http://theconversation.com/ten-ethical-flaws-in-the-caster-semenya-decision-on-intersex-in-sport-116448
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/rio-olympics-caster-semenya-how-does-testosterone-affect-athletic-performance/
https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/09/sex-verification-in-sports-a-new-study-supports-unfairly-excluded-female-athletes.html
https://www.wcpo.com/blogs/sports/iaaf-women-athletes-with-high-testosterone-must-take-hormone-blockers-to-continue-competing
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/31/728400819/i-am-a-woman-track-star-caster-semenya-continues-her-fight-to-compete-as-a-femal
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-lgbt-sport/u-n-condemns-making-women-athletes-cut-testosterone-in-intersex-row-idUSKCN1R31S0
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6391653/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/02/male-and-female-what-is-it-like-to-be-intersex
