Athletics: China field a women’s relay team featuring two men

[Haworthia]

This was as predictable as the day is long. China are well known for their, er, intense pursuit of national success at the Olympics. What better way than to field two blokes but insist they’re women!

I mean, look at them.

On Twitter there were numerous people suggesting that they were possibly women who have taken massive doses of testosterone. Personally, I don’t think testosterone could ever give a natal woman such masculine faces.

They’re men.

twitter.com/savewomenssport/status/1167544600002748417?s=21

Remember it is very, very difficult for a man to trans in China and is socially unacceptable and so I doubt these competitors are men

What do you mean by 'very difficult for a man to trans'? How hard do you think it is for a man to say 'I have a female gender identity' in China? Then all he has to do is keep his testosterone level at the lower end of the male range for a year.

it is very, very difficult for a man to trans in China

IIRC, the IOC rules only require the lower testosterone level for 12 months before competing.

Any hypothetical athlete just needs to stop taking the pills after finishing their career and voila - male again.

No surgery, no actual commitment. Just a temporary solution.

(This is just my understanding. I would love it if I was wrong)

And the fairly obvious penises?

Olympic rules don't require any sort of medical transition for men to compete in the female category. And they don't require them to have the legal status of women (because some countries don't allow people to legally 'change sex').

DickKerrLadies That's exactly how I understand it, too. I don't know how the Olympic rules can be interpreted any other way.

So don’t hide the penis. Let it all hang out. Let’s see what we are dealing with.

I realise that no surgery is required.

It was a question to the poster who said that they must be women, because being trans is hard in China.

If they are women, how do you explain the penises and in other photographs, the male Adam's apples?

Remember it is very, very difficult for a man to trans in China and is socially unacceptable

I’m sure if their government did the transing for medal purposes they’d not find it difficult at all. Specially when they realised, on getting home, that actually they’re not women after all.

I think Teddybear45 has completely missed the point.

It was a question to the poster who said that they must be women, because being trans is hard in China.

I was just pointing out that being trans for sporting purposes isn't hard at all.

In a country with a skew towards males from the one child policy I would have thought being a trans woman would have been easier but harder.

India and South East Asian competitors, however, are are a different kettle of fish - in these countries trans women / men are officially recognised as a third / seperate sex
They are, but commonly live by begging or by prostituting themselves. I wouldn't agree that it is somehow easier to be "trans" in India.

Most Hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word “Hijra” is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. Few employment opportunities are available to Hijras. Many get their income from performing at ceremonies (toli), begging (dheengna), or sex work (“raarha”) – an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times.[12] Violence against Hijras, especially Hijra sex workers, is often brutal and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes. As with transgender people in most of the world as well as in India, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories.
link

Chinese (East Asian) women women often do have very masculine faces at low body fat percentages.
I've had a quick Google for "Chinese female athletes" and the women with low body fat look like women.
I don't think that facial fat makes someone more feminine, regardless of their race, and I can't see how you could honestly think that the men featured in this thread are indicative of a specific racial disparity amongst Chinese athletes instead of just being men.

no amount of Olympic prestige would make up for the dishonour in terms of Chinese officials
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for your credentials on that one.

India and South East Asian competitors, however, are are a different kettle of fish - in these countries trans women / men are officially recognised as a third / seperate sex

Isn't the idea of a third sex just a way for masculine 'real' men to distance themselves from gay men or feminine men? In other words it comes from intolerence rather than tolerance.

in these countries trans women/men are officially recognised
Forgot to add that I can't find anything relating to trans people born female in India.