As expected, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has adopted regulations based on maximum testosterone levels for women competing in Olympic events. From the New York Times:
The organization said the new regulations involve a test to see whether a woman’s natural testosterone levels fall within the normal range of a man, although the I.O.C. does not reveal what a man’s normal levels might be.
If a female athlete is found to have a condition known as hyperandrogenism, which involves an excessive production of androgens, she will not be allowed to compete as a woman. To be barred, the female must have hyperandrogenism that “confers a competitive advantage,” the I.O.C. said, which means the androgens produce strength, power and speed because the body is receptive to them.
We’ve already discussed why this policy sucks, and so we won’t go into much more detail here. The only positive element to come out of this is that unlike the IAAF (the world-governing body for Track and Field) policy addressing the same issue, the IOC policy is silent about forcing women to undergo hormonal or surgical treatments in order to compete in Olympic events. Regardless, I’m still horrified by this policy, and maintain that an athlete’s word regarding her gender should be enough to allow her to compete.
Do you think a woman with “hyperandrogenism” would qualify to compete as in men’s competitions? If not, some women would be unable to compete at all which is totally ridiculous. If they’re going to say that testosterone levels should be the line between two types of competition, then they should have a competition for people with testosterone levels of x and above and a competition for people with testosterone levels of below x, not men’s and women’s competitions. I dont know, maybe that would be better because it would help enable trans athletes to compete with less to-do. But as you said in your first post, testosterone is only one of many many things that factor into a person’s athletic success, so it doesn’t really make sense to use it as a dividing line. If a woman has high testosterone levels and that helps her succeed, then she is in the appropriate line of work ya know? And nothing more. As far as I’m concerned, the rule is nonsensical and arbitrary. It is just a really invasive way of addressing a non-existent problem that does not need to be addressed, while at the same time reinforcing gender roles, pushing femininity and drumming up transphobia.
I assume that this policy would completely exclude someone with hyperandrogenism from competition at all. And not only is this drumming up transphobia, but it’s also doing what people have done to women for hundreds of years: punishing them for having bodies that are slightly different than men’s.