OK, so gory visualisation, but with advancements in hormone therapy and cosmetic surgery, being Paul on your birth certificate, and Pauline on the street can be done with tremendous ease. Now although I celebrate the freedom people have to explore their gendered self, I can't help but consider the implications of this gender bender culture and the ethics of professional sport?
"Um, actually on closer inspection...."
Can you imagine coming up against Miss Pauline in a competitive soccer trial, or worse, see her splash past Steph Rice in the Medley!? Mascara may diminish masculinity, but it sure doesn’t denigrate the physical superiority of being a male!
It seems my fears are not alone; the Beijing Olympic officials beefed up controls with a task force of gender police- whose mission was to sex-pose those girls who look like they could be benders of their genders. I can’t help but acknowledge the enormity of this mission- being that elite sport doesn’t necessary emphasis the elegance of the female figure...
Don’t know what I mean? Google “Jamaica Woman Sprint”.
This task force is authorised to impose invasive examinations on suspect females. Although I feel a short sense of relief knowing that Pauline would be picked up for gender fraud and the protection of the fair playing field, I also think laterally and challenge these black and white standards on the human body that can sometimes be shades of grey.
Santhi Soundarajan is an Indian middle distance runner who had her silver medal stripped from her on 2006 for failing these sex tests. Despite the backing of coaches, Indian Olympic officials and her family, she remains stripped of her medal on the grounds that she committed gender fraud.
Now I’m not going to rule out the possibility that we were all duped, I too would have considered that perhaps a cunning male is exploiting his effeminate looks to advance over female competitors (see pic below). But then again it could be, as she claimed, an example of the inadequacy of these gender tests.
According to Professor Arne Ljungqvist, head of the Medical Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), “Some people are born with ambiguous sex organs, others have an anatomy that doesn't match up with their sex chromosomes." Normally, women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men have an X or Y chromosome (XY) in their cells. The presence of XX chromosomes confirms the person's female gender. However, some people born with a Y chromosome develop all the physical characteristics of a woman except internal female sex organs, a result of a genetic defect that does not produce testosterone. Some of these females can also have the appareance of male genetalia and hormonal imbalances that could result in facial hair and masculine features- not to mention the possiblity of enhanced physical strength.
Is it fair to categorise and dispel an athlete on the basis of their chromosomal make-up?
I also think of those with Gender Identity Disorder (a condition to describe a person who experience significant gender diasphoria- discontent with the sex they were born with.) This discontent is often supported by transgender hormones and brain functions. So if a male has lived and functioned as a woman from the age of 3 years and have hormones to support their gender identity, should they be able to compete in the gender category they identify with?
In all political correct-ness, it seems fair to allow people to compete in the event they believe themselves to fit. But then again, how can you regulate that?
But to consider the argument from a female athletes point of view, it seems unfair that a person with the potential capabilities of a male (in hormones and physicality) is able to compete for gold against the girls!
What do you think?
2 comments:
This is a very interesting issue with huge implications for those both sides of the issue. While it would seem ideal for people to compete in the gender they identify with, you are right in questioning the fairness of this on the other athletes. Recently it was reported in the UK Telegraph that a woman's darts team at been expelled from the competition becasue one of their members used to be a man. Check out the story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2974390/Darts-team-ejected-from-league-over-transsexual-player.html
Thanks so much for your tip Miranda!
If her transgendered self is what decided their expulsion from the competition, I think it is a huge injustice to her. Not only is she missing part of her leg, but it's a club sport- as in social, for fun, not serious!
But if I can play devil's advocate, the committee has said it was on the grounds of the team's abusive language during the games. So I think we should also consider this side, and perhaps be skeptical of 'the transexual card'. Similar injustice cards to the gay card, the woman card, and the race card.
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