As an intersex athlete, this is really devastating news. World Athletics, which is the world governing body for track and field, announced that they are going to require all athletes who compete in the women’s category to undergo sex testing to prove that they are “biologically female”, specifically genetic testing in the form of a cheek swab or blood test (https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/cwygdvpl88ko).
There are lots of concerns over privacy violations for all women, and this testing is particularly going to affect women who are intersex/have a DSD who will be barred from competing if they “fail” these tests.
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Are they also implementing the same for men in sports where women got their own league due to outperforming men or are they not even trying to hide their misogyny?
Trans women are under represented in sport by a factor of several hundred and there’s increasing evidence hrt puts trans women at a disadvantage compared to cis women. This is just blatantly about policing women and enforcing artificial gender barriers that have never existed in reality.
There is one of two ways I can see this going.
First they test and find nothing but outliers. Nothing really comes about it beyond the obvious issues that OP brings up.
Second is they test and find a large percentage of them have some form of intersex condition. At that point they will have to actually rethink a lot of things.
Either way, the testing itself goes against what many will (and should believe) is against personal rights and freedoms. At what point are we splitting hairs? 0 1 of a second separates one who is identified who is intersex, one who had PCOS or a similar condition, and a “normal” woman. Does that really mean that much? What about Phelps, whose condition puts them above “normal” men?
Um, I feel like people should not be forced to submit their genetic materials to any type of governing body. Ever.
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This is the work of Sebastian Coe, the English (it’s always the English) transphobic gender fascist who was almost made head of the IOC.
This has nothing to do with protecting anyone or making anything fair. The Olympics had those tests in the past and stopped them because they weren’t working or reliable.
This is just some fascist wanting to do fascist stuff.
Like what are we intersex supposed to do at this point? When it’s convenient to them they modify us at birth but then when we live life as they assign us as, we are still in the wrong and get bs like this!!
This is the same world athletics that admitted when they issued their ban on transgender athletes that there wasn’t a single one competing at the time.
“World Athletics said there are no current transgender athletes competing internationally in athletics and admitted there’s “no athletics-specific evidence of the impact these athletes would have on the fairness of female competition in athletics.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-athletics-exclude-transgender-women-female-track-and-field/
The fact that this nonsense is allowed to continue to happen is ridiculous. So much energy and resources used to fuel this hate campaign.
So world athletics is a known set of pedophiles who want to look at children’s genitals? Did I hear that right?
Once again: fuck JK Rowling and everyone like her
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So does this mean all intersex people will compete against men? Or will they have their own category?
They would find the biological results incredibly complicated and confusing.
It is just a targeted, systemic effort to erase intersex people under the guise of “fairness in sports.”
No one bans Michael Phelps for his genetic advantages (double-jointed ankles, lactic acid resistance). Meanwhile, Black women like Caster Semenya are hyper-scrutinized for natural testosterone. This isn’t about science—it’s systemic and legalized discrimination.
If sports orgs truly cared about fairness, they’d address pay gaps, media coverage, and resources—not police bodies.
This policy isn’t a “complicated issue.” It’s discrimination dressed up as bureaucracy, and it’s life-threatening. The only confusion comes from people pretending it’s not bigotry.