h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Transgendered and Intersexed Olympians and the Problems with Gender Verification in International Sports - A87724588
Author: Elektragheorgheni - U14668388

This is concerning gender verification in international sports, especially the Olympics. I know this isn't comprehensive, but I didn't want it to be too long. It has been a long time since my last entry. So feedback would be helpful.

Hi Elektra, yes this is an interesting topic! I am a bit sleepy right now and haven't read it with complete concentration, but you did make a mistake that I caught. It's Caster Semenya, not Caster Semanya! There was also a heck of a lot of politics around her 'case'.

A subject I'm fascinated by. Shall be back to read properly later.

TRiG.

Thanks for that Willem. I'll change it when I a few more mistakes are brought to my attention.

Can't give it more than a cursory scan, but this needs a fair crack of the whip when I'm not knackered. Looks very interesting.

This is a good entry, and valuable information. I've just had the chance to read it.

Er, this phrase really needs to be changed, I think:

>>should they identify with the gender of the removed organs<<

I'm thinking that the removed organs can't 'have' a gender to be identified with. I might be wrong...

How about 'should they identify with the other gender'? Anybody else have an idea?

This subject is a pronoun minefield.

God, fixing pronouns hadnt even occurred to me

Doesn't seem to be much in the way of typos.

I have been looking for some more internal links to complement the outside ones, but have been rather failing - we need a few more explanations of sports

I'm puzzled by "had both XX and XY chromosomes". I believe that X and Y are chromosomes. Normal men have an X and a Y, while normal Women have two X's. How can someone have "both XX and XY"?

Is there a geneticist in the house?

I remember explaining to my daughter when she was about five about XX and XY. I also explained that the Y chromosome is actually an X with a short section gone from it. She came out with the classic children's observation:

"Then men are just women with a bit missing!"

Basically a Y chromosome produces testosterone which makes the developing baby get male parts.

Some people have XXY chromosomes. These people are look male, but that's called Klienfielters syndrome.

Some people have XY chromosomes but have a genetic problem which means that there body doesn't respond to the testosterone, so they look female.

Would it be possible to have XX in some cells and XY in others? I'm trying to imagine a situation that matches Elektra's "both XX and XY".

Yes, it's called Moasicism and is a form of true hermaphroditism.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-0004.1976.tb00047.x/abstract;jsessionid=AADDC7E9D8218F0EBDD0974BD2E76463.d02t02?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+3+Dec+from+10-12+GMT+for+monthly+maintenance

mosaicism

Stepping back a bit from the scientific stuff - is it worth looking at the way the article is structured? Currently it's: Introduction - Historical Examples - Scientific Background. I'd talk about it more generally before going onto look at specific cases (i.e., Intro - Background - History).

I was coming to ask about that. I wondered if there were a reason for doing it that way, such as wanting to get the human face on the situation as quickly as possible.

I agree about not wanting to have too many examples, and I think this is about right, with well chosen examples that illustrate the different approaches taken (and the situation from the athletes pov too).

Getting a human face on it quickly is key I think. Might it be better to set the entry up with an example than the IOC commitment?

Thanks for your comments everyone. The pronoun thingie is a mindfield. I pretty much stuck to the self-identifying choice of the persons involved. I found it interesting whose records stuck and whose were erased, but this might be up to the sporting groups involved. The main thing is that the participants in the Olympics are operating in good faith and historically there was a heck of lack of information concerning sex, genetics and hormones in the past and a lot of all this is influenced by cultural roles and norms.

I am also hoping that some reseachers create some short entries on:the discus, shot put, 100m races and pentathalon or even a generalized track and field entry.If these appear I'll link to them or rather ask a subeditor or guru to do it for me.

A87725109 - i generated a uni project about the field events just today

Now if someone could do a track one that would be great

note - this will be finished well before my project, but we can always submit a minor update with the added links