Why Question Female Athletes’ Sex?
Spanish women’s hurdles national champion Maria José Martinez-Patiño had no idea that the skin cells she had provided regulators at the 1985 World University Games would turn her life upside-down. She was undergoing a sex verification test, then required of every female participant. In years prior, regulators would parade groups of female competitors nude in front of doctors to inspect their genitalia. In 1968, this humiliating practice was discontinued in favor of less invasive methods.
Maria had passed the same test two years prior and had never questioned her sex after being assigned female at birth. But what was so obvious to her, would soon become the subject of international debate. Her test revealed the presence of a Y-chromosome, generally associated with men. Maria would learn that she had a condition causing her to develop female sexual characteristics in spite of a Y-chromosome. As many as 1 in 100 people are born with characteristics that do not arrange neatly into categories of male or female, likewise often going unnoticed. Though she was in fact a woman, and her condition provided no competitive advantage, because she did not meet the organization’s “scientific” definition of female, she was permanently disqualified from international competition.
The media speculated that she was secretly a man, causing her fiancé to break off their engagement. Her records were erased, her scholarship revoked, and she was evicted, later recounting, “On many occasions I thought the best thing was to die because I could not stand so much suffering.” After years of litigation, Maria was eventually reinstated, but having been robbed of her prime, she failed to qualify for the Olympics.
Maria’s case shows the harms of sex verification testing, which for years has fostered a toxic culture of suspicion around women’s athletic achievements in international competition. Nevertheless, Idaho Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, is seeking to impose sex verification testing in Idaho, in an apparent effort to further restrict the participation of transgender women in women’s sports. Currently, high school and collegiate athletes are required to participate on teams consistent with their assigned sex at birth, unless they meet rigorous conditions, including waiting periods and prolonged medical interventions such as hormone therapy. If anything, the current rules have discouraged participation, as there are no public reports of trans women participating in women’s sports in the state.
Instead of explicitly banning trans women, Ehardt’s bill imposes sex verification testing for women at large. It allows a woman’s sex to be disputed but does not specify or limit who may do so, potentially affording a formal challenge process for opposing coaches, jilted teammates or anonymous foes. It also gives students the power to sue their school over failing to enforce sex verification testing, opening the door for litigating a classmate’s sex in court. If a woman’s sex is questioned, she is required by the law to undergo blood draws to reveal hormone levels, provide saliva or skin samples for genetic testing and submit to examinations of internal reproductive organs and genitalia. What public interest is served by our government requiring a teenage girl to endure a pelvic exam and surrender body fluid samples for a spot on her high school golf team?
While trans women may be Ehardt’s target, women who identify with their assigned sex or women like Maria with differing sexual characteristics will share in the harm. Perhaps following a particularly dominating performance against a rival team, rumors circulate that call into question a female athlete’s sex. Her eligibility is disrupted after an opponent makes a challenge with officials. Before she is able to refute the allegation she is met with suspicion and ridicule by her classmates. By then, no medical evidence can restore her reputation or dignity.
If lawmakers like Ehardt are so concerned with individuals questioning their assigned sex, why are they proposing legislation that calls into question the sex of people who don’t? Let women prove themselves on the court and the field and not through invasive sex verification testing.
