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A POSTnote giving an overview of the scientific and ethical debate around policies regulating the participation of female athletes with differences in sex development (DSDs) in the female category of elite, professional sports.
Performance, Inclusion and Elite Sports - Athletes with Differences in Sex Development (378 KB , PDF)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.58248/PN682
Differences of sex development (also known as intersex, variations of sex characteristics or disorders of sex development) is an umbrella term for a wide range of traits that differ from typical sex development, including chromosomal, anatomical, hormonal or gonadal sex. Certain DSDs can result in a female individual having naturally elevated levels of testosterone. As the hormone testosterone is known to confer an athletic advantage when administered as an anabolic steroid, a key question is whether female athletes with DSDs have a performance advantage over female athletes without DSDs. Some international sports organisations, such as World Athletics and FINA, require female athletes with certain DSDs to reduce their testosterone levels in order to compete in the female category, to maintain fairness of competition. However, such regulations are contested by many on scientific and ethical grounds.
Acknowledgements
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer-reviewed. POST would like to thank consultees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
Professor John Brewer, University of the West of Scotland*
Morgan Carpenter, Intersex Human Rights Australia*
Jonathan Cooper, University of Gloucestershire*
Government Equalities Office*
Joanna Harper, Loughborough University*
Professor Richard Holt, University of Southampton*
Dr Payoshni Mitra, Global Observatory for Gender Equality and Sport*
Dr Seema Patel, Nottingham Trent University*
Professor Roger Pielke, University of Colorado Boulder*
Professor Yannis Pitsiladis, University of Brighton*
Professor Alun Williams, Manchester Metropolitan University*
World Athletics*
*denotes people and organisations who acted as external reviewers of the briefing.
Performance, Inclusion and Elite Sports - Athletes with Differences in Sex Development (378 KB , PDF)
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