Hello there. It's me, Rose. And I am here to tell you about what I've been doing since you last heard me on this show.

First, I took some time off. I learned how to blow glass. I started making some big weird sculptures. I started

writing a novel. I started powerlifting, which was very cool. And also, I made another

show. And I want to share this other project with you because it's something that I care really

deeply about. And if you like to flash forward, I think you were going to like it.

The show is called Tested, and it's a six-part audio documentary

about the past, present, and future of so-called gender verification policies in sports.

And if you hear that and you're like,

what is gender verification?

Like what does that mean?

Well, let me tell you.

Did you know that for decades, every single female athlete at the Olympics had to take a test to prove that she was female.

She would then get a little card, a certificate of femininity, to carry around for events.

And that's not even like the wildest fact in this story. The series follows modern athletes

who are trying to make it to the Olympics in Paris,

after being told that they actually have to change

their body's biology if they want

to keep competing in the female category.

And the show traces all of this back to the very beginning of women's sports to figure out, like, why did we start testing women in the first place?

I've spent the last 10 years kind of obsessed with this story, and I've been trying to sell it as a series for eight of those years. I have flown

all around the world, mostly on my own dime to meet athletes and coaches and

scientists and advocates and now finally you get to hear it.

...