IOC just disqualified women for having too much testosterone. Why do some women have more testosterone? If it’s naturally occurring why isn’t it like height for example in basketball? Just a natural advantage. My first post here, thanks in advance!!
In: Biology
I want to start this by saying I am not anti-trans or intersex, I’m simply stating the idea behind the ruling and a summary of the justification of the court NOT MY IDEA ON SEX, GENDER, ETC.
Semeya Caster is intersex, meaning she has traits from both and her chromosomes are XY (just like a biological male). How she has female trait and is intersex is a different ELI5.
The committee said that her testosterone levels were too high because she has a biological male component that is deemed “unnatural”
They’re drawing the line because of the anti-trans standpoint of only biological females can race in the female category. She is not exactly defined as that since her chromosomes are more complicated.
Height is considered “natural” for many biological non-intersex people. However, she has a complicated chromosome picture.
In sum, my ELI5 is: racing committee is trying to draw a definitive line for what is male and what is female. Semeya biologically falls on that line, and is hence not able to compete in the female category. Just like in football if you catch the football but your foot is on the line, you’re out of bounds even if it’s just a toe. At the risk of sounding ignorant, the committee considers her out of bounds because her toe is on the line. They’re using testosterone limits as a baseline for her because the argument against trans females competing with cos females is the testosterone gives them an advantage, hence why nobody really complains about the idea of trans males competing.
Edit: spelling
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