Abstract: FRI-17
Sources of Funding: None

Introduction

During the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, Caster Semenya participated in the 800m finals and won gold. Her win, while a personal accomplishment, also had historical implications. Seven years prior, questions began to be raised about her gender ultimately leading to her temporary ban from athletic competition while she underwent "sex verification testing." The sex-testing to which she was subjected had a historical precedent. This paper seeks to explore the historical narrative surrounding intersex disorders as the presented in the form of female athletic competition.

Methods

A literature review was conducted in PubMed which identified primary and secondary sources regarding "sex testing" and "femininity certificates." These sources were reviewed in order to evaluate the sociocultural context of sex testing among female athletes in international competition.

Results

Sex testing began in earnest in the 1950s with the mandatory sex testing of female athletes during the European Championships, although rumblings of questioning the ender of female athletes pre-dated the creation of this mandatory law. In the 1930s, as women became increasingly involved in athletic competition, women's bodies were scrutinized if they appeared too "male-like" or exhibited athletic exceptionalism. Early sprinters such as Dora Ratjen of Germany and Stella Walsh of Poland were driven away from the sport due to claims that they were in fact men. Once testing became official, it consisted of invasive physical examinations, heavily focused on the genitalia as women were asked to "parade nude before a panel of doctors." Often as a direct response to these athletic community's inquiries into their sexual identity, these female athletes, who were branded as male and termed "hermaphrodite" subsequently underwent surgical reassignment. While testing transitioned to include genetic and hormone testing, the results remained relatively inconclusive and significantly altered the lives of the women on whom they were conducted_x000D_ _x000D_

Conclusions

Historically, dominant performances by women on the international athletic stage called into question their gender identity. Invasive sex testing was performed and many of the individuals who were investigated would be identified as intersex today. Contemporary discussions of transgender identity add a new layer of complexity to examinations of the intersection of gender and athletic competition as transgender athletes made history in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by competing without having undergone gender reassignment surgery.

Funding

None