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After the very public mess involving South African runner Caster Semenya and her supposed (but not officially confirmed) intersex status, International Olympic Committee has convened a symposium this past January and issued a summary of recommendations for how intersex athletes should be treated. The recommendations, which is still currently being finalised, are:
An increase in education and awareness is certainly welcome, but it appears that IOC is overstepping its role as an athletic authority when it prescribes recommendations for how athletes' medical conditions should be managed or treated.
Further, those involved in the process have been quoted in the media that their view is that athletes with intersex conditions should be allowed to compete if they are being treated for them, establishing a new requirement that only applies to intersex athletes (that is, other athletes could follow or refuse medical advice without fear of being disqualified by the IOC).
In Women's Bioethics Project, Elizabeth Ries, a University of Oregon historian and the author of Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex asks an interesting question: "Is Intersex a Disorder or a Competitive Advantage?"
Also, intersex activist and writer Hida Viloria has written a petition demanding OIC to stop excluding and stigmatizing intersex athletes, which can be found here.
Posted by Emi on Mar 19, 2010