I wonder what the Olympic committee would have to say. Or say for instance the WNBA? Would they have to compete as their original sex? Have any transexuals ever tried?
Are you familiar with the 70’s tennis player Rene Richards? I’m not – except that she was once a he. Googlize her and you might get some answers.
Generally not when events are sex segregated. Renee Richards did win the right to compete in the US Open but that holding is limited to the State of New York (decision was founded in New York state law and does not transfer to other jurisdictions).
I believe the Olympic policy is to place people into events by chromosomal sex. FtMs would be barred from competing, however, because of “steroid use” (testosterone).
They created a special category for Renee Richards – mixed singles.
As a general rule, yes, but there have been a couple exceptions made for congenital XY females. This is a conditions where the body doesn’t react to testosterone, so instead of developing as a male the fetus becomes externally female (internal organs such as ovaries and uterus are missing). These people are identified as female at birth and usually are not diagnosed until puberty, when they don’t menstruate and go to a doctor to find out why. At least one person wasn’t diagnosed until they tried out for an Olympic team (young athletes being so common these days). There’s some sort of process they have to go through to be “certified female” and prove they were born that way and not a sex changer.
Such females, although having male levels of testosterone, are at absolutely no competitive advantage since their bodies can’t use that hormone. You could pump them full of steroids and it would have absolutely no effect on their athletic ability whatsoever. They have competed in the Olympics but have never won medals.
In regard to the chromosonal testing, since its inception at the Montreal Olympics only one Olympic female competitor has been allowed to compete without taking the test.
Anybody know who? (sorry about the hijack)
This thread from Great Debates has an interesting discussion of some of the issues involved.
I don’t recall her name, but wasn’t she the princess of someplace or another?
Princess Anne, British Equestrian team. And I only know because I just read this somewhere recently.
Thanks folks.
Should’ve known this would have come up a long time ago.
The Olympic committee is more on the ball than I would have thought.
There are definitely a lot of debatable issues around the transgendered identity, maybe I’ll post one in Great Debates.