"What Qualifies a Woman to Compete As a Woman?" - Intersexuality in Sport

The examination and standardization of testosterone levels for female athletes have been suspended in 2015 after the female sprinter Dutee Chand has pressed charges against the IAAF’s Hyperandrogenism Regulation at the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The suspension of the „IAAF Regulation Governing Eligibility of Females with Hyperandrogenism to Compete in Women’s Competition“ for female athletes for two years has ignited a debate about the justification of gender affiliation and negotiation of gender binary in sports. This regulation might be declared void, depending on the scientific evidence that the IAAF needs to file until the end of September 2017. The IAAF has to verify a coherence between higher testosterone levels and advantages in performance or otherwise this policy will be abrogated. We would like to discuss the gender norms, power relations, and the logic of argumentation that have been applied during this ongoing debate on regulating the female body in sports by analyzing the discourse on this issue.