On Integrity and the Risk of Generational Loss: Narratives of Preservation and Threat Underlie Policies Restricting Natural Testosterone in Women Athletes

Abstract

Abstract Though its claims to “leveling the playing field,” are dubious, sex verification remains part of elite women's athletics. One of its latest iterations, testing and treatment for “excessive testosterone,” is championed by sports governing bodies on the grounds of “preserving the integrity of female competition.” I examine this claim in light of the decade of scrutiny South African runner Caster Semenya has endured regarding her sex. Contextualizing Semenya's case historically and in light of current science reveals two imperatives driving sports governing bodies' hyperandrogenism policies: (1) promoting a historically and structurally bounded idea of how athletic female bodies should look; and (2) presenting the performance capacity of visually concordant athletic female physiques as the measure of female athleticism. Testing and treatment for “excessive testosterone,” applies science in service of hegemonic norms regarding physique, prowess, and heterosexual appeal. Hyperandrogenism testing preserves integrity of type, not integrity of competition.