International Olympic Committee announces new Policy on the Protection of the Female (Women’s) Category in Olympic Sport

Which 2024 Summer Olympics athletes would this new rule have affected if it were in place then?

Probably just the intersex boxer, maybe a second intersex boxer too but didn't I read somewhere she had been cleared to compete? Not sure.

I’m sure this will go over completely fine. Can somebody tell me why they are doing this? What transgender athlete has won a gold medal at any sport in the last 20 years? Why are we not doing genetic testing for men too to make sure nobody has genetic advantages in the male category? If Usain Bolt was born with a genetic mutation that makes his ceiling higher than other men, all his records should be removed because that’s an unfair advantage.

Because it's common sense. It's a category for women, so men shouldn't be in it.

It's not that profound though because most sports already have their own rules which exclude men from women's sports already, but the campaigners don't like to talk about that.

A wording change would be useful here. Call what is now the "men's division" the "open division". It is open to anyone. However the women's division is protected and only women (as defined by biology) are allowed. Thus you do not screen for the open division.

Tennis has this when it comes to age divisions. Anyone (well there are minimum ages set) can enter the "open" division of a tennis tournament, but if you want to enter the juniors you have to show proof of age that fits the criteria.

Also, just because no one has won gold (although the Algerian boxer might be such a case) does not mean there is not an issue. In 2021 there was a transwoman in the weightlifting competition at the Games. She (and I will use the preferred pronouns because I am a decent person) did take the spot of a person who would meet the criteria and denied that person the chance to be called an Olympian and compete.

Your last argument is a really silly one and does not show a lot of thought in this area.

Great news. Common sense prevails

Trump has saved women’s sports.

It doesn't matter if they win or not; the category is for non-DSD females and they are not that. Someone who is 23+ years old is categorically ineligible to compete in the U23 championship, regardless of their performance relative to the eligible competitors. The whole "do they or don't they have a performance advantage" argument is a complete red herring.

The male category is unrestricted. You are free to set up a league that subdivides the male category if you want, but the competitors and viewers are satisfied with the current divisions used by the main governing bodies.

Yes, there isn’t an inherently compelling philosophical argument to decide that any specific subset of genes is the sacrosanct delimiter of eligibility in a category for purposes of fairness. It is ultimately a societal choice, and right now, the political climate has taken back that societal choice to the previous century’s policies.

Here is a good primer on the screening (it is not a "test"--there is a difference) from Emma Hilton.

fondofbeetles.substack.com

The case for sex screening in sport

Emma Hilton

Categories, genes and eligibility

Open link

This editorial (Emma Hilton is also one of the authors) provides a more in depth argument for protecting the women's category.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/sms.14715

Can someone translate this?

I think this is less a "political" choice as this sort of ruling at least in the US has widespread acceptance from across the political spectrum. The motivations might be different, but the outcome is the same.

Does this mean that I now get awarded the gold medal in the women's 800 at the 2016 Olympics?

One aspect that especially concerns me about this is women who may have gone their entire lives not knowing they have the SRY gene mutation. Imagine if somebody like Keely Hodgkinson or Nadia Battocletti finds out this way that they have had an unfair advantage all along. But I guess that would be the byproduct of a ruling like this.

You're confused. There were a number of athletes in various sports (such as Caster Semenya but also many others) that were not born female with a genetic mutation, but were born male with a genetic mutation. And being male with a genetic mutation was enough to get a biological male into the female category.

Now that the IOC has made a blanket decision for ALL sports that prohibit ALL biological males from participating in the female category, each sport doesn't have to make it's own rules, because the IOC has made that rule for them.

They were reactive, not proactive. Damage was done--trauma incurred, results botched. They will not take responsibility for that, yet they will act like they're some champions of progress for making inevitable change. Cringe.

It would be surprising to everyone if Hodgkinson or Battocletti went through a male puberty I imagine.

Unless they're from a real medical backwater of the world, there aren't too many people with SRY DSDs who don't know it already. It's not like there aren't plenty of clues.

After the obvious checks at birth, not starting menstruating would probably been the first big clue.

But even if it was the case, it's sad, but they're not eligible for the category so that's how it goes. Just like Semenya and Niyonsabo.

The Algerian boxer was assigned female at birth, raised as a girl, and self-identifies as a woman. So she is the very definition of a cisgender woman.

But she will be banned under this policy. I am not sure about the boxer from Chinese Taipei.

That's not how this works.. A person with the SRY gene mutation is a biological male inside but appears to be female on the outside. A person like that wouldn't ever get their period. And by the time they were 17 or 18 they would have gone to a doctor to figure out why they hadn't gotten their period yet, and the doctor would have told them that they were biologically male with no uterus, no eggs, etc.

So by the time someone got to be Keely's age, they would have known for years that they were a biological male. So no, they would not "find out this way" because of this new IOC rule.

Khelif is biologically male. I have sympathy for someone like her but I would not agree that Khelif is a 'cisgender' (which is a slur) woman.