HMNS Seminar Series 2018: 'Women's Sport, Testosterone, and the Myth of a Level Playing Field'
Event Details
Event Contact
Event Description
- Full Description:
- When, why, and how do we segregate sport on the basis of sex? The answers to these questions fundamentally depend on our definitions of sex and, even more, on how we define femaleness. Throughout the twentieth century, elite sportswomen submitted to various iterations of sex verification procedures: affidavits from physicians, physical and visual inspections, and genetic testing. Authorities have since turned to functional testosterone as the preferred biomarker for determining who “counts as” a woman for the purpose of sport. Indeed, sport policy makers set the same hormonal threshold for both hyperandrogenic women (whose bodies naturally produce higher-than-average levels of testosterone) and trans women athletes, two distinct groups tethered together by issues of “T.” As athletes and allies challenge these policies, it becomes clear that the male-female binary is not as clear-cut as it may seem. This, in turn, adds new considerations to the debates about sex segregation in sport.
Directions to UQ
Event Tools
Share This Event
Print
Email
Share
Rate This Event
Tweet This Event
Calendar Tools
Featured Calendars
Subscribe via RSS