By: Donald Littlewood
Women were not allowed to participate in the first Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens, Greece, however their participation was included in Paris in 1990. At this time, sport was considered a very masculine activity and all females competing in the Olympics were required to participate in what was known as a nude parade.[1] All female athletes were required to present themselves nude in front of a team of doctors who would then determine the sex of the athlete. There are few exemptions of the rule in history. A few athletes stated that it was against their religion to expose themselves in these nude parades.[2] In 1976, the only female to not participate in the nude parade was Princess Anne who was an equestrian in Montreal. The concept of a nude parade is clearly a highly invasive endeavour and was the cause of much humiliation and embarrassment for the athletes of the time.[3]
In 1967, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a newsletter stating that “[i]t has been scientifically proven that hermaphroditism does not exist”.[4] This statement rises a whole lot of very interesting points. It was known as early as 1961 that, biologically speaking, hermaphroditism is indeed possible.[5] This makes it seem as though the IOC was intentionally trying to be oblivious to the fact that there are more possibilities of genetic makeups than simply XX and XY. In today’s gender discussions, we know that there are many other factors that make up your gender identity than simply your chromosomes.
In Mexico City in 1968, the IOC well as the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) implemented a mandatory sex testing procedure for all female athletes where new technologies were used verify their sex. This new technology was known as the Barr body chromosomal test in which the women’s chromosomal makeup was tested.[6] This method was standard and mandatory for a surprisingly long time – 1992, in Albertville, France. There are several limitations to this now phased out method of sex verification. According to this test, in order to be considered female, one must possess an XX chromosome pair.[7] However, in order to be biologically male, one requires the presence of a Y chromosome. This excludes athletes with different genetic disorders from competing in the Olympic Games. For example, individuals with Turner’s syndrome possess an XO chromosome, meaning that they are biologically female since they do not carry the Y chromosome. However, for the sake of the Barr test, and the Olympics, these individuals are not females either since they do not possess the desired XX chromosome.[8]
The Soviet Union entered the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952. In the 1960’s it was the female athletes of the USSR that sparked the Barr testing method.[9] Four female athletes from the USSR and one from Romania set Olympic records in track and field yet none of them failed their gender verification tests. In the Cold War era, there was a constant battle between the Eastern bloc and the rest of the Western world and sex verification was seen as a way to maintain the much desired Western gender stereotypes.[10] In 1974, the IOC president Avery Brundage was quoted saying that he liked the process of sex verification as it made the women in the Olympics more attractive[11], making him come across as extremely chauvinistic.
In 1992, at the Albertville Games, the process of sex verification moved from the Barr test to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which looks for the presence of the Y chromosome in the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene.[12] This allowed for females lacking the second X chromosome to participate in the Olympic Games. However, this process was stopped in 2000. In Sydney, sex verification was no longer required, however if an athlete was deemed suspicious they were required to present themselves to an endocrinologist, a geneticist, a gynecologist and a psychologist for further investigation.[13]
Interestingly enough, the International Athletic Association Federation (IAAF) is the only other sport governing body to force sex verification upon its athletes, beginning with the 1966 European Track and Field Championships.[14] The sex testing in the IAAF originated due to similar reasons as in the Olympics; African American women and Soviet women were not conforming to the Western gender stereotype of female. They were thought to be too “mannish”.[15] All females competing in the athletics events at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica were also required to undergo sex verification. No other governing body forced this upon its athletes at this time.[16] As recently as 2009, sex verification has occurred in the IAAF, with the testing of Caster Semenya. Her testing process was long and drawn out, and while her testing was complete for the London 2012 Games, it was still a topic of major tabloid headlines leading up to, during and after the Games.
In more recent research, scientists and researchers are using hormonal analysis to assess the sex of athletes. However, this is proving to be an unreliable method of sex verification due to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS).[17] In women with AIS, their androgen receptors do not recognize the elevated levels of testosterone in the body and therefore have extremely high levels of testosterone. These women present as males on hormone tests but do not reap any of the benefits of increased levels of testosterone such as increased musculature and strength. These female athletes are also unresponsive to anabolic androgenic steroids.[18] AIS was brought to the forefront of media in 1985 by Spanish hurdler Maria Jose Martinez-Patino who found out that she had AIS: “she was disqualified for an advantage she didn’t have.”[19] While this did not occur in the Olympics, the results of the test prevented her from ever competing again, including in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
[1] Cheryl Cooky & Shari L. Dworkin (2013): “Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster Semenya Controversy”, Journal of Sex Research, 50:2, 103-111.
[2] Jaime Schultz (2011): “Caster Semenya and the ‘Question of Too’: Sex Testing in Elite Women’s Sport and the Issue of Advantage”, Quest, 63:2, 228-243.
[3] Cooky & Dworkin, “Policing the Boundaries of Sex”, 104
[4] Stefan Wiederkehr (2009): “‘We Shall Never Know the Exact Number of Men who Have Competed in the Olympics Posing as Women’: Sport, Gender Verification and the Cold War”, The International Journal for the History of Sport, 26:4, 556-572.
[5] Ibid., 565
[6] Cooky & Dworkin, “Policing the Boundaries of Sex”, 104
[7] Schultz ‘Question of Too’, 232.
[8] Ibid., 231
[9] Wiederkehr, “Sport, Gender Verification and the Cold War”. 560
[10] Ibid., 562
[11] Ibid., 560
[12] Schulz, ‘Question of Too’, 232
[13] Cooky & Dworkin, Policing the Boundaries of Sex, 105
[14] Schultz, ‘Question of Too’, 229
[15] Ibid., 229
[16] Ibid., 230
[17] Ibid., 233
[18] Ibid., 233
[19] Ibid., 234
In 1967, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a newsletter stating that “[i]t has been scientifically proven that hermaphroditism does not exist”.[4] This statement rises a whole lot of very interesting points. It was known as early as 1961 that, biologically speaking, hermaphroditism is indeed possible.[5] This makes it seem as though the IOC was intentionally trying to be oblivious to the fact that there are more possibilities of genetic makeups than simply XX and XY. In today’s gender discussions, we know that there are many other factors that make up your gender identity than simply your chromosomes.
In Mexico City in 1968, the IOC well as the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) implemented a mandatory sex testing procedure for all female athletes where new technologies were used verify their sex. This new technology was known as the Barr body chromosomal test in which the women’s chromosomal makeup was tested.[6] This method was standard and mandatory for a surprisingly long time – 1992, in Albertville, France. There are several limitations to this now phased out method of sex verification. According to this test, in order to be considered female, one must possess an XX chromosome pair.[7] However, in order to be biologically male, one requires the presence of a Y chromosome. This excludes athletes with different genetic disorders from competing in the Olympic Games. For example, individuals with Turner’s syndrome possess an XO chromosome, meaning that they are biologically female since they do not carry the Y chromosome. However, for the sake of the Barr test, and the Olympics, these individuals are not females either since they do not possess the desired XX chromosome.[8]
The Soviet Union entered the Olympics in Helsinki in 1952. In the 1960’s it was the female athletes of the USSR that sparked the Barr testing method.[9] Four female athletes from the USSR and one from Romania set Olympic records in track and field yet none of them failed their gender verification tests. In the Cold War era, there was a constant battle between the Eastern bloc and the rest of the Western world and sex verification was seen as a way to maintain the much desired Western gender stereotypes.[10] In 1974, the IOC president Avery Brundage was quoted saying that he liked the process of sex verification as it made the women in the Olympics more attractive[11], making him come across as extremely chauvinistic.
In 1992, at the Albertville Games, the process of sex verification moved from the Barr test to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which looks for the presence of the Y chromosome in the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene.[12] This allowed for females lacking the second X chromosome to participate in the Olympic Games. However, this process was stopped in 2000. In Sydney, sex verification was no longer required, however if an athlete was deemed suspicious they were required to present themselves to an endocrinologist, a geneticist, a gynecologist and a psychologist for further investigation.[13]
Interestingly enough, the International Athletic Association Federation (IAAF) is the only other sport governing body to force sex verification upon its athletes, beginning with the 1966 European Track and Field Championships.[14] The sex testing in the IAAF originated due to similar reasons as in the Olympics; African American women and Soviet women were not conforming to the Western gender stereotype of female. They were thought to be too “mannish”.[15] All females competing in the athletics events at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica were also required to undergo sex verification. No other governing body forced this upon its athletes at this time.[16] As recently as 2009, sex verification has occurred in the IAAF, with the testing of Caster Semenya. Her testing process was long and drawn out, and while her testing was complete for the London 2012 Games, it was still a topic of major tabloid headlines leading up to, during and after the Games.
In more recent research, scientists and researchers are using hormonal analysis to assess the sex of athletes. However, this is proving to be an unreliable method of sex verification due to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS).[17] In women with AIS, their androgen receptors do not recognize the elevated levels of testosterone in the body and therefore have extremely high levels of testosterone. These women present as males on hormone tests but do not reap any of the benefits of increased levels of testosterone such as increased musculature and strength. These female athletes are also unresponsive to anabolic androgenic steroids.[18] AIS was brought to the forefront of media in 1985 by Spanish hurdler Maria Jose Martinez-Patino who found out that she had AIS: “she was disqualified for an advantage she didn’t have.”[19] While this did not occur in the Olympics, the results of the test prevented her from ever competing again, including in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
[1] Cheryl Cooky & Shari L. Dworkin (2013): “Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster Semenya Controversy”, Journal of Sex Research, 50:2, 103-111.
[2] Jaime Schultz (2011): “Caster Semenya and the ‘Question of Too’: Sex Testing in Elite Women’s Sport and the Issue of Advantage”, Quest, 63:2, 228-243.
[3] Cooky & Dworkin, “Policing the Boundaries of Sex”, 104
[4] Stefan Wiederkehr (2009): “‘We Shall Never Know the Exact Number of Men who Have Competed in the Olympics Posing as Women’: Sport, Gender Verification and the Cold War”, The International Journal for the History of Sport, 26:4, 556-572.
[5] Ibid., 565
[6] Cooky & Dworkin, “Policing the Boundaries of Sex”, 104
[7] Schultz ‘Question of Too’, 232.
[8] Ibid., 231
[9] Wiederkehr, “Sport, Gender Verification and the Cold War”. 560
[10] Ibid., 562
[11] Ibid., 560
[12] Schulz, ‘Question of Too’, 232
[13] Cooky & Dworkin, Policing the Boundaries of Sex, 105
[14] Schultz, ‘Question of Too’, 229
[15] Ibid., 229
[16] Ibid., 230
[17] Ibid., 233
[18] Ibid., 233
[19] Ibid., 234
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