User:Aefmra/International Olympic Committee

Sex verification is a practice used by Olympic and other sporting institutions to prevent men competing in female categories. Verifying the sex of Olympic participants dates back to ancient Greece when Kallipateira attempted to break Greek law by dressing as a man to enter the arena as a trainer. After she was discovered a new policy was erected wherein trainers, just as athletes, were made to attend naked in order to better assure all were male.

In more recent history, sex verification has taken many forms and been subject to dispute within various societal spheres. Before mandatory sex testing, Olympic officials relied on, “nude parades” and doctor’s notes. Successful women athletes perceived to be masculine were most likely to be targeted for inspection. In 1968, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented compulsory sex verification at the Grenile Winter Games where a lottery system was used to determine who would be inspected with a Barr body test. The American media critiqued the use of the lottery system and claimed that only the most obvious, which in this case meant the Soviet and Eastern European women, should be subject to examination. The scientific community also found fault in this policy for different reasons. The use of the Barr body test was evaluated by fifteen geneticists who unanimously agreed it was scientifically invalid. By the 1970s this method was replaced with PCR testing, as well as evaluating other factors including brain anatomy and behaviour in order to verify sex. Following continued backlash against mandatory sex testing of both forms, the IOC's Athletes' Commission successfully advocated for the end of the practice in 1999.

Although sex testing was no longer mandated by IOC policy, women who did not present as feminine enough continued to be inspected based on suspicion in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Games. By 2011 the IOC created a Hyperandrogenism Regulation, which aimed to standardize natural testosterone levels in women athletes. This transition in sex testing was to assure a fairness within female categories. This was due to the belief that higher testosterone levels increased athletic ability and gave unfair advantages to certain women including intersex and transgender competitors. Any female athlete flagged for suspicion and whose testosterone surpassed regulation levels, was prohibited from competing until medical treatment brought their hormone levels within the standardized amounts. It has been argued by press, scholars, and politicians that women of colour are disproportionately impacted by this regulation and it has been alleged that the rule endorses hegemonic gender norms. Most notable cases of competition bans due to sex testing results are as follows: Maria Martinez Patiño (1985), Santhi Soundarajan (2006), Caster Semenya (2009), Annet Negesa (2012), and Dutee Chand (2014).

In 2014 Dutee Chand was banned from competing internationally after being found to be in violation of the Hyperandrogenism Regulation. Following the decision of her appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the IOC suspended the policy for the 2016 and 2018 Games. Press advocated for the continued suspension of sex verification practices for the 2020 Tokyo Games.