‘Preserving la difference’: the elusiveness of sex-segregated sport

Abstract

Sport is founded upon a belief in dimorphic sex, dichotomous gender and segregated competition. To uphold these binaries, sport authorities repeatedly relied upon medico-scientific technologies to draw a line between men and women. However, all efforts to conclusively delineate sex failed. This paper details the IAAF’s and IOC’s use of anatomical examinations, chromatin assessments, DNA testing and hormonal analyses in their attempt to circumscribe womanhood. The history of these efforts illustrates the elusiveness of sex determination, as well an unwavering belief in its infallibility. All four approaches proved arbitrary, reaffirmed a false system of polarized sex/gender and discriminated against individuals who fell outside society’s two-sexed classification. By engaging gender, medical and sport scholarships, this paper shows how widespread social anxieties, medico-scientific ideologies and sporting norms coalesced, resulting in (unsuccessful) efforts to maintain separation. The history of sex/gender testing shows sex is indefinable, thereby suggesting sex segregation is impossible.

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