It's really interesting how many news stories I've read in the past month or two concerning trans- and intersexuality in sports.

I already mentioned this to kalogrenant when he visited me recently, too, and said I should probably make a post about it some time, but I was too lazy so far. ^^ But today, I came across yet another news piece, so...

Anyhow, the first story I read was an article concerning the life of Andreas Krieger, an East-German athlete who started life as a woman. The interesting thing about his case is not just that he's transsexual, but also that as a teenage girl, he was forced to participate in the GDR's doping programme and received large doses of testosterone, up to twice the level a fully-grown adult male would naturally produce; it seems that this is related to his being transsexual, too.

It's a tragic case, of course, but it's also a fascinating one. I cannot possibly speculate on these matters, but I'd be curious to more about what could have been, or what was before; in theory, I could imagine that Krieger was already transsexual and that the drugs merely brought it out faster or earlier than it otherwise would've become apparent, or that he was "latently" transsexual and the drugs brought it out even though it wouldn't otherwise have become apparent, or even that he was not transsexual to begin with before and the drugs actually caused it. No matter what is true – and I obviously cannot on these matters –, it raises interesting questions about gender and identity in general when drugs (even sexual hormones) administered can fundamentally change who and what you are that way.

The second story concerns Dora Ratjen, a German athlete in the 1930s who was raised as a woman, participated in competitions as a woman, and was only later on found to actually be a man, when he was about 20. He apparently died last year at the ripe old age of 89, but never actually talked about his past — which is particularly unfortunate as it seems that the long-held theory that he was forced to pretend he was a woman by the nazis and that he was supposed to replace Gretel Bergmann, an athlete of Jewish ancestry the nazis harassed and who ultimately emigrated to the USA seems to be untrue.

The third concerns a contemporary athlete again, namely Caster Semenya from South Africa, who is apparently intersexed (but self-identifies as a woman). This one's a very interesting case insofar as that it's not clear to me right away how intersexed athletes should be treated in sports in general, in a way that ensures fairness for everyone.

Specifically, on one hand, one could argue that every athlete should simply participate in the events for the gender they self-identify as (so Semenya would continue participating in the women's events, for example). On the other hand, one might say that this would be unfair to those who're not intersexed, at least in this case: that Semenya, for example, has certain physical traits that are closer to men's than would be the case for non-intersexed women, and that therefore, she has an (unfair) advantage. However, one might also reply to that that there's many conditions that would improve someone's ability to compete in certain sports, and that having these was never considered a criterion for locking anyone out of any competition; and if a competitor wasn't able to go as fast or high or far as another due to not having a certain condition, it was a case of "sorry, sucks to be you" (if it was even found out).

Of course, one could also argue that gender, one's sex and intersexuality are nevertheless special. But there's also the question of where intersexed athletes *are* supposed to compete; for example, if it was decided that Semenya couldn't compete as a woman, in the women's events, her career would likely be over completely (after all, where else *could* she compete?).

The last piece I just read recently now was an interview with Nicole Schnaß, a transsexual (m2f) German triathlete. It also raises issues similar to the ones talked about above; others may not always accept that when losing to a transsexual athlete, they really lost to a woman, and depending on the personal integrity of the loser, they might point to the winner's former sex as a reason for why they won — essentially saying "she used to be a man, she's still stronger than real women" or something similar.

Well, it might happen, or it might not, but I suppose that sports officials (and professionals, like the athletes themselves) should better start thinking about issues like these now; chances are we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg for now. (And FWIW, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't quite a number of trans- and intersexual people who'd like to compete in sports, too, either on a professional or an amateur level, but who cannot right now for much the same reason, or who, at the very least, feel they cannot or do not want to put up with the hassles that'd invariably follow if they did. Treating *those* people fairly and giving them the same chance as everyone else should also be a goal.)

All in all and wrapping up, though, there's a good thing about all this, too, though: the fact that trans- and intersexuality are much more visible in public now than they were even five or ten years ago can only be a good thing. And it seems that sports are generally a good way to introduce the general public to new concepts etc., too: more often than not, it's something that people can identify with or that they enjoy, at the very least, and I think that familiarizing people with these things[1] will be easier this way than it'd be if you focussed only on an abstract, academical discourse.

1. It's not always true, fortunately, but often, familiarity seems to be a necessary precursor to tolerance. Many people seem to have no problem hating or fearing anything and everything they don't know, so the more familiar people are with certain topics, the more likely they'll be to be OK with them. Incidentally and unrelatedly, I think this is one reason why I think many churches etc. are so vehemently opposed to things like equal rights for homosexuals, too: they know that once people'd start seeing that gays and lesbians are normal people, too, they'd stop fearing and hating them. For religions that have been preaching hatred and intolerance forever, this would be a big problem. But I'm disgressing.

current mood: tired

The new pony flu strain seems to be spreading fast at the Black Gazza:

From left to right, we've got P-57145, an inmate with an unknown number, P-60369 (that's me!), P-60810 and P-60318.

P-60025 also joined us after the above shot was taken:

I've got to admit I really like that outfit I've got, too. The gas mask really fits the black latex suit and the pony boots/mittens very well — and masks are always good, anyway. ^.^

current mood: awake