{"id":1725,"date":"2015-07-29T18:37:53","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T18:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=1725"},"modified":"2015-07-29T18:37:53","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T18:37:53","slug":"who-should-be-allowed-to-compete-as-a-female-athlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2015\/07\/29\/who-should-be-allowed-to-compete-as-a-female-athlete\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Should Be Allowed to Compete as a Female Athlete?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chand2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Times<\/em><\/a>
\nJuly 29, 2015<\/p>\n

by Roger Pielke, Jr.<\/p>\n

Should the size and shape of a woman\u2019s breasts be considered factors in whether she is allowed to participate in elite athletic competitions like the Olympic Games? It sounds a bit ridiculous, but since 2011, breast size and shape have helped determine <\/a>whether a woman may have testosterone levels deemed too high to be allowed to compete with other women.<\/p>\n

That all changed on Monday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Swiss-based organization that settles disputes within international sport, suspended <\/a>the testosterone policy<\/a> of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which oversees track and field. The ruling is the latest development in efforts by sports officials to figure out a scientifically valid and procedurally fair way to determine an athlete\u2019s eligibility to compete as a man or a woman in elite sports.<\/p>\n

After more than 50 years of missteps in trying to implement policies that were variously deeply flawed and well meaning, the sports community finally has a chance to get the male\/female eligibility question right.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s decision was in response to a complaint filed by Dutee Chand, a talented young Indian sprinter, who one year ago had been ruled ineligible to compete because of a reported level of natural testosterone that exceeded the 2011 regulations governing hyperandrogenism, a condition that can lead to high levels of that hormone.<\/p>\n

Decision makers often look to science to provide clear-cut answers to difficult questions of policy. In this case, the question was, who is a female for purposes of elite athletic competition?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, science is pluralistic and the world is complicated. The court of arbitration found this out in a hurry. \u201cThe expert witnesses each relied on different published papers to support his or her view\u201d and \u201cno single study has established, to an appropriate level of certainty, a scientific basis to come to a definitive conclusion one way or the other,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n

Yet, the court agreed that testosterone could, potentially, be used for purposes of eligibility. The problem of course is that many other physical characteristics could also be used, like chromosomal makeup, the presence of reproductive organs or even height, but each of these markers is problematic. Read more …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York Times July 29, 2015 by Roger Pielke, Jr. Should the size and shape of a woman\u2019s breasts be considered factors in whether she is allowed to participate in elite athletic competitions like the Olympic Games? It sounds a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-publications"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-01 02:21:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1727,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}