Currently, governing sports bodies determine the eligibility of women to compete in international competition by measuring their hormones, namely testosterone. These incredible Athletes are subjected to invasive gender tests to prove their ‘femininity’ and are forced to undergo suppressive hormone therapy if they fail.
To suggest that too much testosterone negates ones womanhood is to burden physiology with assumptions embedded in culture, layering words such as ‘female’ and ‘hormome’ outside of biology itself.
Why single out hyperadrogenism (high testosterone) in women when there is no upper limit in male athletics? And why focus on the ‘excess’ of this one hormone when there is little evidence to show that it is profoundly advantageous?
To move forward we must err on the side of inclusivity, reject the binary view of gender and allow the Olympic spirit to celebrate the beautiful diversity of the people who participate (regardless of how hairy they may be!)
Fiona Rose Illustration 