AIBU to think it was never that complicated to define a woman.

[Abisequer]

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled that eligibility for the women’s category of Olympic events will now be limited to biological females, starting from the LA 2028 Games.

AIBU to think the category ‘women’ was never complicated and the obfuscation by certain governing bodies has compromised fairness in sport for women.

Examples of obfuscation include claims that genital checking would be needed or that biological men with lowered testosterone would be on an even playing field with biological women.

AIBU to think it was never complicated to define a woman and a cheek swab is all it takes.

Article

I do not consider Santhi to look "as male as male can be".

You thought the photo of Santhi someone posted was a man when you didn't realise it was a photo of him.

Once again, for the people at the back. An elite athlete in a country with a decent sports set up would be expected to see a doctor at some stage in that journey towards a silver medal. In fact, you can be sure he saw someone, because elite athletes are taught about health and supplements and doping regulations and so on.

How about María José Martínez-Patiño, were they a cheat before their first sex test? Were they a cheat after they passed it? Or did they become a cheat when they readily took a second test after leaving their certificate (from their first test) at home?

https://www.physiologyjourna

was that from this study?

The one posted up thread?

Are you just going to list all the males caught in women’s competitions to see which ones might back up your “they look ambiguous enough to slip through so might not have been deliberately cheating” argument? Because the one you picked isn’t doing it for you?

And once again, there was widespread misinformation about menstrual health among female athletes at the time, and menstrual health and its monitoring was broadly not a concern (with the IOCs first reccomedmndation that it be implemented coming in 2005).

That’s hilarious

And, once again, a male looking person with no period at 24 is not the same as a woman with heavy periods.

You're getting an avalanche of backlash because you're claiming one MO but clearly, clearly, clearly have another, and people don't want your nonsense to go unchallenged, or for you to think you've fooled them. Also because you're providing something of an avalanche of nonsense day and night to be rebutted. Some of us have young children and need to sleep sometimes.

It's obvious why you're pushing it so hard and it's not because of a bleeding heart. Just rend your garments for these men and campaign for a league for men with DSDs if that's all it is.

Also untrue. Two different posters posted pictures of two different athletes, and I initially only saw one of them.

So, when someone said they had posted a picture, I assumed they meant the one I had seen.

You're getting an avalanche of backlash because you're claiming one MO but clearly, clearly, clearly have another
This exists in your head.

Transwomen have never belonged in women's sport, and I have never believed that they did. I do not know how more unequivocal I can be.

And once again once again, you’re claiming that it’s likely that every single human involved in Santhi’s life, and all coaching staff, and medical staff in the Indian national team were victims of “widespread misinformation” about periods in athletes. Not a single person or doctor asked? And not a single doctor or person who asked raised concerns?

That’s what you think is likely.

It’s not likely.

But they didn’t know, clearly, because they were Indian and white people hadn’t taught them about periods.

Yes, it's men with DSDs you want getting in under the radar.

You're not fooling anyone. Yourself, perhaps.

And the typical sly threat of, “lots of athletes will be surprised” by the genetic results, when no, actually, lots of athletes won’t.

Well, lots of white people wont, because white people know that women get periods.

Indians didn’t know about periods until 2005 when the IOC told them about them, apparently 🙄. The Asian games was in 2006 though…

"Menstrual health was not a concern in Indian athletics, was not monitored, and harmful myths normalized" is not the same as "Indians didn't know know about periods.

The racism shtick is tiresome.

I just can't even with that one. It's particularly wonderful because at one point they implicitly accused me and another poster of being racist because we noted that developing countries are less likely to have the healthcare provision necessary to diagnose a DSD at an early age. "Are you saying only people from richer countries are worthy of sympathy" or something like that. Anyone capable of leaps like that should be in the Olympics themselves.

Indians also didn’t know that 24 year olds should have periods and shouldn’t look male, until suddenly, their doctors worked it out all at once and did genetic, hormone blood tests and scans.

So how can you possibly think that not a single person involved in the athletic pathway Santhi Soundarajan followed from junior athlete to medal winner at a major athletics meet didn’t think it was a) worth checking or b) odd that a male looking athlete hadn’t had a period ever?

You keep repeating that it wasn’t a concern, prioritised, and harmful myths “normalized” [sic] but you can’t explain how this athlete got past everyone.

Bearing in mind that in order for sex testing to occur in 2006, someone would have had to prompt it based on appearance in Doha.

So not a single Indian thought of it. But as soon as Soundarajan competed in front of non-Indians, someone thought of it and told the Indians to test for it.

This is also how all the other athletes got picked up.

So either the Indians are incredibly silly and incompetent, and had “normalized” a lack of periods and it took someone more educated in Doha to show them the error of their ways, or they knew and were pretending they didn’t.

Probably someone in Doha taught the Indians about periods.

Do you really believe males with DSDs who haven’t realised they are in fact male by the time they’ve reached competitive athletic level exist? Really?

I don’t. They know fine well and my sympathy lies with the women they’ve shafted.

Maybe there was a compulsory lecture about the 2005 IOC document and the penny dropped then.