Gender and Athletics

I have been following the story recently of the 18-year-old athlete from South Africa whose gender has been questioned. She has been competing as a woman and has been blowing the competition away including world-class athletes. Therefore, some have come to question whether she is really a female or not.

This got me thinking. So I’ve decided to share some of my thoughts with you. First of all, let’s have a little bit of a biology lesson. I didn’t do any research on the subject so I’m just going to share with you what I remember from medical school/undergrad.

In terms of biology, gender can sometimes be ambiguous. There are chromosomal abnormalities such as XXY and XO which can produce a viable fetus but with obvious deformities. I believe XO is called Turner syndrome if I remember correctly. And I believe XXY is called Klinefelter’s syndrome. There can also be XXX or XYY and several other combinations. Suffice it to say there can be many chromosomal abnormalities which produce hermaphrodites.

Then of course there are phenotypic hermaphrodites who for instance can be normal XY genetic males who do not develop properly in utero and therefore appear female when born. This is what I suspect happened to the young South African athlete.

From what I’ve heard on the news about this case, this young athlete was raised as a girl. And for all intents and purposes according to her family that’s what she is. But upon further study it was found that she actually had no ovaries or female reproductive organs and instead had undescended internal testes. Which are producing androgens (testosterone) therefore the running abilities of a male. Not to mention the masculine features such as deeper voice and increased muscle mass which she bears.

People seem to be pretty harsh on this young athlete. I actually feel sorry for her. I don’t believe she was trying to cheat. I think she and her family both believe that she is a normal female. And I can’t begin to understand what she must be going through emotionally to have her gender called into question on a global stage. She probably didn’t have the most advanced medical care available while growing up. And perhaps, had no reason to suspect anything was wrong.

There are many variations of hermaphroditism. True hermaphrodites, those people containing both male and female reproductive organs, are extremely rare. But more commonly hermaphrodites can also be those whose gender is ambiguous at birth. I don’t want to get into too much detail but suffice it to say there can be many different combinations of hermaphroditism.

By default, fetuses develop as female. In order to develop as a male, the fetus must produce his own androgens(testosterone). This higher level of androgens is what triggers the male reproductive organs to develop in utero. And interestingly, the male brain develops differently because of the higher androgen levels in utero. There is a part of the male brain, if I remember correctly it’s the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is about three times larger than in females. I suppose this is why males and females think so much differently. That’s a theory anyway.

The more you study the human body the more you appreciate what a miracle it is. And it truly is a miracle every time a baby is born without abnormality. There are so many things that must go right during fetal development and one little hiccup in development can cause devastating effects.

So I guess what my point is, among all my rambling thoughts, is that maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to cast judgment without knowing the whole story. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m about as judgmental as they come. But, in this case, I feel sympathy for the young 18-year-old South African athlete. Who, perhaps is just trying to live a normal life, discovered she had a talent for running, did her best, and now is being scrutinized because of her biology.

That’s my two cents.

(I intentionally left the name of the athlete out of this blog. Although it's not hard to figure out who I'm talking about.)