[kereth]

Olympic committee working towards trans* inclusion

And now, some good news.

The International Olympic committee has been working to create an inclusion policy for transsexual athletes. While the policy is criticized by some for possibly giving an unfair advantage to male-to-female athletes and by others for not being inclusive of transgender people and those who cannot or choose not to have genital surgery, it still represents a comparatively progressive policy in the sports world. Also interesting is that the Olympic Committee did not wait for a trans* athlete to challenge them before making the ruling. Preemptive strike, or forward thinking?

Kereth
_________________
Today: Androgyne
Forecast for tomorrow: Partly male with a 70% chance of Byronism

[Ninelives]

I think i will be an optimist on this one and say forward thinking. Society is not one for pre-emptive strikes where issues like this are concerned. I must admit that i am unsure of whether it would pose an unfair advantage in the case of mtof. I am most worried that if a trans person won a race it would be put down to unfair advantage rather than hard work. I think they are opening a can of worms, but one that must be opened at some point.

[kereth]

The argument seems to be that since the policy requires hormonal therapy for a year, and estrogen therapy typically leads to loss of muscle density and upper body strength until the profile is consistent with that of a nontrans female, MTF's can participate fairly. I think many female athletes have testosterone levels on the upper end of normal, since athletic training increases the amount of testosterone produced by one's body. And then there's the fact that HRT puts a little strain on one's liver and cardio system. Athletes will lose training time from surgery, and FTM athletes may lose some upper body strength from chest reconstruction. Trans athletes will probably still be at a disadvantage. But convincing the media and the nontrans women athletes of this may well be a trial.

Does anyone think this policy is too exclusionary?

Kereth Entity