A previous post in which I chatted with held Myron Genel’s feet to the flames ended on a bit of a low note, what with the IOC honoring the insane demands of two unwell men that led, eventually, to the violation/erasure of women’s sports as a legitimate category—all sports, in all countries, at all levels, from elite to grassroots.
I hope the idea that the IOC action to protect biological female sports protections will in fact finally inspire holdouts like Washington State, California and Minnesota, who continue to allow males in females' sports and hurt all girls and women who want to compete in a fair and safe environment , to do the right thing. When I began competing at the national level in the sixties we were required to provide a birth certificate which verified our biological sex and our age, when we competed at the junior level. Then we were protected in the Olympics in 1968 and 1972 with chromosome verification. I firmly believe that an ORIGINAL and UNALTERED birth certificate should be required for participation in sport at all levels by males and females. This would end the "is that a boy" issue once and for all. I also wish they would simply do a quick chromosome check as part of the birth certificate that is issued by all states for all births and end the nonsense of "identified at birth" which denies science, leaving it up to "identified" and mostly negating the female sex. When third world countries get away with promoting DSD individuals as female, entering them as females and sometimes hurting those individuals who do not know they are DSD they are also hurting sport and all females who expect a level playing field.
What I have heard from insiders is that when World Athletics (track and field) restored the female category in 2023 and instituted SRY screening as the means to ensure the exclusion of male advantage, for all the blather about it ahead of time, the actual rollout was surprisingly easy and without ado. The reason, as Jon Pike pointed out, is that ensuring a sex-based women's category is ethically, legally, and scientifically supported. The only argument for including men in women's sports, it turned out, was Because Men Want To. Not much of a controversy
I hope the idea that the IOC action to protect biological female sports protections will in fact finally inspire holdouts like Washington State, California and Minnesota, who continue to allow males in females' sports and hurt all girls and women who want to compete in a fair and safe environment , to do the right thing. When I began competing at the national level in the sixties we were required to provide a birth certificate which verified our biological sex and our age, when we competed at the junior level. Then we were protected in the Olympics in 1968 and 1972 with chromosome verification. I firmly believe that an ORIGINAL and UNALTERED birth certificate should be required for participation in sport at all levels by males and females. This would end the "is that a boy" issue once and for all. I also wish they would simply do a quick chromosome check as part of the birth certificate that is issued by all states for all births and end the nonsense of "identified at birth" which denies science, leaving it up to "identified" and mostly negating the female sex. When third world countries get away with promoting DSD individuals as female, entering them as females and sometimes hurting those individuals who do not know they are DSD they are also hurting sport and all females who expect a level playing field.
What I have heard from insiders is that when World Athletics (track and field) restored the female category in 2023 and instituted SRY screening as the means to ensure the exclusion of male advantage, for all the blather about it ahead of time, the actual rollout was surprisingly easy and without ado. The reason, as Jon Pike pointed out, is that ensuring a sex-based women's category is ethically, legally, and scientifically supported. The only argument for including men in women's sports, it turned out, was Because Men Want To. Not much of a controversy
Thank you Sarah! Another great column!