Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 January 25

= January 25 =

Full metal jacket
In Full Metal Jacket, does Lieutenant Leiter... um... Lockart see any actual combat in Vietnam, or does he just stay on base editing the newspaper? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:7C5F:326F:4DAE:27A (talk) 09:09, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Lockhart only appears in scenes at the Stars and Stripes offices. One is not supposed to link to copyright violations at Wikipedia, but the full script is available online if you search in google for it; using that you can confirm his appearances in the film. -- Jayron 32 14:06, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
 * OK, so I take it as a "no". Thanks! 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:7C5F:326F:4DAE:27A (talk) 04:05, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

Female-to-male transsexuals competing in sports
I know there are rules relating to male to female transsexuals, as to how long they need to have been on hormone therapy before they're considered to have lost the "advantage" of a male body, and be allowed to fairly compete in the womens divisions, as in, without having an unfair advantage over biologically born females.

My question is the reverse situation. Transitioning from Female to Male inevitably involves taking Testosterone. And Testosterone is a banned substance (both in and out of competition - you can't use it year-round, even off-season) under anti-doping regulations, which is generally perfectly fair, given the potential performance enhancing effect. It IS a steroid, and can definitely enhance performance, and build muscle and aggression.

YET, for someone born with a female body, even with all that hormone treatment, including testosterone, would they really be at an unfair advantage when competing against biologically born men? Remember, they would now be competing against men, not women anymore. One friend thought clearly not, but he's no doctor. He was of the view that even with all those synthetic androgens including testosterone, someone born female would be unlikely to make it in elite high-intensity sports competing against elite men born as men. Of course, even were that the case (is it?) the question would still arise if they wanted to play sports with the men at sub-elite competition (even your average local league is bound by the code, even though you're unlikely to ever get checked, and there are competitions for all levels of ability), which would hardly be uncommon. How would the anti-doping regulators treat this sort of situation? Would such an individual be allowed to compete? Could they obtain a Therapeutic Use exemption for the testosterone on this basis, claiming a lack of unfairness to their male competitors? Has this issue ever arisen? Is there any official policy on female-to-male transsexuals, and the anti-doping issues, as well as at what point can they be allowed to compete as a male?

Perhaps for comparison's sake, look at biological females, as in, two X chromosomes (Caster Semenya does not qualify in this regard, I gather?), who have a medical condition which causes them to have massively elevated testosterone levels. There has been a lot of debate as to whether they should be forced to take medication to bring their testosterone level down. But imagine such an athlete said "screw this, I aint taking any meds to reduce my testosterone - if I'm too "manly" let me compete in the mens' division instead". Would they be competitive against the "XY males" ("real" men) elite athletes, say at the olympics? Eliyohub (talk) 19:44, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Well a simple search for 'female to male testosterone sports' finds which tells us that as is nearly always the case, it's up the individual sport (well within reason anyway). Nil Einne (talk) 16:35, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Stupid me for having you do my work for me, but PERFECT. It actually deals comprehensively with the anti-doping aspect I was asking about. I disagree that it says "it's up to the individual sport", when it comes to anti-doping rules regarding testosterone use - it isn't, the rules specified in the document are universal, made by WADA. But as to decisions on such individuals actually competing in the mens division, yes, that aspect would be up to the individual sport, it's not a doping issue. Thanks for your help, I ought to learn to use google more! Eliyohub (talk) 04:17, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Not a question, but an answer (Someone That I Used to Love)
I couldn't find it, but I think someone asked on the Reference Desk about a song with these lyrics.

"Someone That I Used to Love" by Natalie Cole is in the playlist of KKOV. That link won't work after today.— Vchimpanzee  •  talk  •  contributions  •  21:00, 25 January 2017 (UTC)