Vorpal wrote:I don't see any problem with still having some teams, leagues, or sports offering the opportunity for women to compete solely against women, but then, there will always be a problem of how to define who may participate.
But at least if elite sports donb't exclude people based upon gender, we don't have a problem.
We have excluded some people simply because their bodies don't conform to expectations. They have indeterminate gender or meet all criteria for a gender, but naturally produce 'excessive' levels of testosterone, or another natural substance for which athletes are tested.
https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/22/8644 ... c-intersex
Again I believe people are being misleading or are misinformed.
Testosterone is produced in small quantities in the ovaries & adrenal glands, and in large quantities in the testes.
Those athletes who have so-called excessive levels of testosterone have testicles. Their levels of testosterone are only 'excessive' in comparison to
people without testes. When considered in comparison with people without testes they are perfectly normal.
There are people with testes whose body are insensitive to testosterone, and as such appear completely female (breasts + genitals), however they have XY chromosomes and lack fertility either male or female. There are others whose bodies ARE sensitive to testosterone, and they appear more masculine, though they may have been born with apparently female genitals due to genetic defects. They may have fertile sperm.
One such case is that of Mary Weston who appeared to be female, won lots of athletics in the 1930s, but realised eventually that he had such a defect, and became a man, Mark Weston. He appears to have fathered children. https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9ox ... 1_1280.png
The issue today is perhaps there is more money at stake for sponsors etc.
There is obviously some room for debate in terms of who is in or out in the female category, such as a person with testes but who cannot process testosterone. People with testes who CAN process testosterone would seem to belong in the male category, no matter what their genitals might look like.
There are other genes involved with strength, height, etc. but largely the male-female divide is the result of puberty when boys grow much taller and stronger because of testosterone, and girls don't. Hence it makes sense to exclude those who have testes from female sport, possibly unless you are immune to it. Not because of 'excessive' testosterone - if your ovaries are producing a lot of testosterone, chances are you are quite ill - but because that testosterone is being produced by testes - which regardless of supposedly indeterminate or confusing gender or gender identity or whatever other abstract confusions people try to come up with - are the source of male strength. Hence the current or former ownership of a pair of testicles should be a good basis for saying 'you can't compete with women'.
I find it quite remarkable that with all the reporting about this stuff there is no mention of the simple fact that you only get healthy male testosterone levels from possessing testes (or taking steroids). No way around that, yet it's rarely if ever spelled out.
