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An area of women’s sport that is creating gender confusion, heated debate and for which gender verification has implications, is transgenders (specifically male to female) in sport.

Six of the eight Australian states and territories prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and five, namely New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, prohibit discrimination on the grounds of transgender identity. There are substantial variations between the states and territories, for example, in NSW sport is exempted from the provisions of the Transgenders Bill 1996.

Since 1995 a Sexuality Discrimination Bill has been under consideration at the federal level. Under the proposed Bill, transgender is defined as a person of one sex who:

• assumes any of the characteristics of the other sex, whether by medical intervention (including reassignment procedure) or otherwise; or
  

• identifies himself or herself as a member of the other sex; or
  

• lives or seeks to live as a member of the other sex; or
  

• attempts to be, or identifies himself or herself as, a transsexual.

There are two distinctly different points of view in relation to male-to-female transgenders participating in competitive sport.

One side of the debate argues that there is a competitive advantage for a male who has undergone sex reassignment surgery because of his physical training and development. Men have significantly higher levels of testosterone and a greater muscle to fat ratio and heart and lung capacity than women.

Research conducted in South Australia has also shown that males generally have greater motor skills than females. In our society it is usually the boys who have greater motor experiences and practice opportunities. That is, they are more likely to be involved in activities where they run, jump and catch.

The other side of the debate argues that a physiological advantage does not necessarily exist. Transgenders must continually take massive doses of oestrogen which decreases their strength, and their bodies no longer produce testosterone. Female transgenders behave as ‘typically womanly’ as possible and avoid doing anything to tip their physical appearance over to the masculine side (and therefore tend to shy away from sport or significant training). Within the debate are several assumptions, that:

• anyone exposed to testosterone at puberty will be a good athlete
  

• all males make better athletes than all females, and
  

• males will change gender in order to reap rewards in women’s sport which they are unable to obtain by competing in men’s sport.

All of these assumptions are false. In relation to the last assumption, a transgender generally believes he or she was born into the wrong body and it is a passionate, lifelong and ineradicable conviction. The sex reassignment process is extremely complex and lengthy and involves surgeons, gynaecologists, endocrinologists, plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, speech therapists and lawyers. Once a person has a sex change, they live the rest of their life as a member of that sex. It is therefore unlikely that someone would chose to undertake this complex irreversible operation in order to play women’s sport.

There is also the related issue of female born athletes who have genetic advantages for various sports. These include Marfan’s Syndrome which causes women to grow to heights of seven foot (some female basketballers and volleyballers have this syndrome) and congenital adrenal hyperplasia which causes an over-supply of testosterone in women and produces extreme muscularity.

If transgenders are prohibited from playing sport because of a presumed genetic advantage, this raises the question of whether people born with genetic advantages for sport should similarly be prohibited from playing.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) has discussed the issue of transgenders in sport. It felt that individuals undergoing sex reassignment from male to female before puberty should be regarded as female. However, decisions concerning eligibility of individuals who had undergone sex reassignment (male to female) after puberty, should be decided by the relevant medical body within the sport organisation concerned.

The only known physiological tests conducted in Australia on a female transgender showed that, although scoring well in the areas of lung capacity and anaerobic threshold, she fell well within the normal range of female performance characteristics. If we add to this physiological data, the incidence of transgenders in the population, then this issue can be put in perspective. For example, approximately 2000 people have received medical treatment in Great Britain. If this is extrapolated to Australia’s population and then further reduced by the number of people playing competitive sport, the issue is visible only under a microscope.

There is no simple solution to the dilemma of whether transgenders (male-to-female) should be able to participate in women’s sport, although the predominant train of thought appears to be that they should participate for fun but not for glory.

IOC approves consensus with regard to athletes who have changed sex

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today approved the consensus proposed by the IOC Medical Commission stating the conditions to be respected for a person who has changed sex to compete in sports competitions. These conditions will be applied as of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004 in Athens.


The consensus reads as follows:

Statement of the Stockholm consensus on sex reassignment in sports

On 28 October 2003, an ad-hoc committee convened by the IOC Medical Commission met in Stockholm to discuss and issue recommendations on the participation of individuals who have undergone sex reassignment (male to female and vice versa) in sport. The group was composed of:

• Prof. Arne Ljungqvist (SWE)
  

• Prof. Odile Cohen-Haguenauer (FRA)
  

• Prof. Myron Genel (USA)
  

• Prof. Joe Leigh Simpson (USA)
  

• Prof. Martin Ritzen (SWE)
  

• Prof. Marc Fellous (FRA)
  

• Dr Patrick Schamasch (FRA)

The group confirms the previous recommendation that any “individuals undergoing sex reassignment of male to female before puberty should be regarded as girls and women” (female). This also applies to individuals undergoing female to male reassignment, who should be regarded as boys and men (male).
The group recommends that individuals undergoing sex reassignment from male to female after puberty (and vice versa) be eligible for participation in female or male competitions, respectively, under the following conditions:

• Surgical anatomical changes have been completed, including external genitalia changes and gonadectomy
  

• Legal recognition of their assigned sex has been conferred by the appropriate official authorities
  

• Hormonal therapy appropriate for the assigned sex has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimise gender-related advantages in sport competitions.
  

In the opinion of the group, eligibility should begin no sooner than two years after gonadectomy.

It is understood that a confidential case-by-case evaluation will occur.

In the event that the gender of a competing athlete is questioned, the medical delegate (or equivalent) of the relevant sporting body shall have the authority to take all appropriate measures for the determination of the gender of a competitor.

Explanatory note to the recommendation on sex reassignment and sports



In the past there have been rare cases of athletes who have competed under one gender and later in life undergone sex reassignment. Occasionally, such an athlete has gone on competing under the new gender. Such cases seem to have been dealt with individually by the responsible sports federations without any clear rules. They have, however, been extremely rare and do not seem to have created a significant problem for sport in general.

With the arrival of improved methods for the identification of transsexual individuals, and improved possibilities to rectify any sexual ambiguity, the number of individuals undergoing sex reassignment has increased. The increase has become particularly significant after the introduction of legislation with respect to sex reassignment in many countries.



The increasing number of cases of sex reassignment has also come to affect sport. Although individuals who undergo sex reassignment usually have personal problems that make sports competition an unlikely activity for them, there are some for whom participation in sport is important. Thus, the question has been raised whether specific requirements for their participation in sport can be introduced, and what any such requirements should be.



The first international sports organisation to address the issue was the IAAF in 1990. An expert seminar unanimously recommended that any person who has undergone sex reassignment before puberty should be accepted in sport under the assigned gender. Individuals who have undergone sex reassignment after puberty were considered to represent a more complex problem, since they have been under the influence of hormones under their former gender during their puberty. In particular, a male puberty would mean an influence of testosterone, which could, in theory, be of importance even after a reassignment to female gender. It was, therefore, recommended that any such case be evaluated on an individual basis by competent experts before a decision be taken by the relevant sports authority. These recommendations have served as guiding principles also by the IOC when questions have been asked.



In recent years it has become apparent that the recommendation to make a case-by-case evaluation of athletes who have undergone sex reassignment after puberty is insufficient. The IOC has been asked to explain what such an evaluation should include. What requirements should be fulfilled before the athlete is allowed to compete under the new gender?

The present recommendation is the result of an updating of the IAAF guidelines by a panel of experts and to which clear requirements have been added with respect to eligibility for competition under the new gender following sex reassignment after puberty. The most debated aspects have been:

• for how long will the hormonal influence of the earlier puberty be of importance?
  

• will the testosterone influence on the muscular strength during male puberty ever disappear?
  

• for how long should the treatment with female hormones last in order to be considered sufficient?
  

• how can one make sure that the required treatment with female hormone does really take place?

All those questions were addressed by the panel, which also sought advice from further outside experts, before the enclosed recommendations were agreed upon.

More information on this issue is available from the Australian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (see related links).

Further reading on transgender and sport

Books

• Lewins, Frank, 1995, Transsexualism in Society, MacMillan Education Australia, South Melbourne

Articles

• "Gender Tests", Editorial, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 Dec1997, p18
  

• "Sex frauds v. Doping Cheats", Sport Health, Dec 97pp15-17
"Exemption for Sport in NSW Transgender Legislation", ANZSLA Newsletter, Vol6 No3 1996
  

• Birrel, Susan and Cole, Cheryl L., "Double Fault: Renee Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference", Sociology of Sport Journal, 1990, 7, pp1-21
  

• Healey, D, "Exemption for sport in NSW transgender legislation", ANZSLA Newsletter (Melbourne, Aust.) Vol.6 no.3 1996 p.3
  

• Sharpe, A., "Sport: naturalising sex differences through sport : an examination of the New South Wales transgender legislation", Alternative Law Journal (Aust.) Vol.22 no.1 February 1997 pp.40-41
  

• Crosswhite, J., "Legislation in relation to gender discrimination and to provide for the legal recognition of post operative transgender persons", Women sport and Recreation NSW Inc (Sydney, Aust.) Vol.1 no.3 Aug 1996 pp.2-3

• The index for the various reports on the Inquiry Into Sexuality Discrimination is available through the search facility on the Parliament of Australia website (see related links). You will need to use keywords such as 'Inquiry into sexual discrimination' to find the material listed.

• Search on Sport and transgender on the Feminist Majority Foundation website (see related links).

Papers

• Comben, Lisa, 1996, "Transgender Issues in Sport. Problems, Solutions and the Future", Research Paper, Master of Laws, University of Melbourne
  

Government Publications

• NSW Transgender (Anti-Discrimination and Other Acts Amendment) Bill 1996
  

• "O'Chee Scaremongering Over Transsexuals in Sport", Media Release Sen, The Hon Nick Bolkus, 4 Dec 1997
  

• "Guidelines for Employers and Service Providers Transgender (Transsexual) Discrimination", Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales, Revised 2/97
  

• "Transgender Discrimination - Your Rights", Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales Factsheet, Revised 2/97