Sex Testing’s Long History in the Olympics and Other Elite Sports

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Sex testing has a long history in sports. As participation in events like the Olympics opened to women, organizers and audiences alike began questioning the sex of the athletes. The tests devised to “prove” an athlete’s sex have been invasive and inaccurate. Rose Eveleth, host of the NPR and CBC podcast Tested, brings us the story of sex testing and where the science stands. Listen to Tested: https://link.chtbl.com/zQEKpQCE Read Olympic coverage from Scientific American: Is Technology in the Olympics a Form of Doping or a Reality of Modern Sport? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-technology-in-the-olympics-a-form-of-doping-or-a-reality-of-modern-sport/ For Olympic Athletes, First Come the Games—Then Come the Post-Olympics Blues https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-olympic-athletes-first-come-the-games-then-come-the-post-olympics-blues/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Rose Eveleth, host of Tested. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hello, Deadpool here. We're very excited to be joining you, but we should set the table correctly.
0:05.4	We're mostly going to make enemies with Disney and make a lot of jokes at Hughes' expense.
0:09.4	Come again.
0:10.4	I'm don't know. So sit back, relax, while we travel to a place where grown men and women walk around in tights and act like it's not a giant cultural cry for help.
0:19.0	Because this is cinema.
0:23.0	Shuck. Oh my God.
0:25.0	Marvel Studios Deadpool in Wolverine in Cinemas Thursday, July 25th.
0:30.0	There has been a lot of headlines in recent years about transgender athletes, but this isn't actually the first time debates over biological sex have caused controversy and exclusion in the sports world.
0:44.8	Even athletes who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth,
0:49.0	meaning people with XX chromosomes who were assigned female at birth and identify as women today can find themselves
0:56.1	banned from the competition on the basis of their biology.
1:00.7	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
1:03.4	Today I'm talking to award-winning reporter and writer Rose Eveleth.
1:07.4	They're the creator and host of a new series called Tested, co-produced by
1:11.4	CBC Podcasts and Podcasts Embedded.
1:14.4	Tested follows the surprising 100-year history of sex testing in elite sports,
1:19.3	which has culminated in some shocking modern policies.
1:23.0	So, Rose, for listeners who aren't familiar with your work,
1:30.0	I would love to hear a little bit more about how you came to this story.
1:34.0	I was an intern in the ye oldy days of Scientific American.
1:38.0	As was I! What a time?
1:40.0	Yeah, in the blog minds of the early science internet.
	...

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