Archive for the 'Youth Development Programs in Sport' Category

TED talks partner series – Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

The thesaurus might equate “disabled” with synonyms like “useless” and “mutilated,” but ground-breaking runner Aimee Mullins is out to redefine the word. Defying these associations, she shows how adversity — in her case, being born without shinbones — actually opens the door for human potential.

A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics.

“There’s an important difference and distinction between the objective medical fact of my being an amputee and the subjective societal opinion of whether or not I’m disabled. Truthfully, the only real and consistent disability I’ve had to confront is the world ever thinking that I could be described by those definitions.” (Aimee Mullins)

Listen to Amiee’s presentation  - “Click Here”

Published July, 2012

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Anti-doping regulatory testing practices puts reality on female testosterone levels, does not support IOC Hyperandrogenism Rule.

Illustrates and reveals the IOC is using “selective discrimination” for the use of consumerism to preserve the “vision of femininity”.

With the London Olympics rolling just around the corner in the next few weeks, there has been great anticipation the last several weeks of the concerns of the International Olympic Committee’s [IOC] most recent gender evaluation testing of female athletes, with their focus on female natural serum testosterone levels. This is an effort to shed some light on the facts to articulate correctly, that in-fact what the IOC is actually has nothing to do with “fairness” and or “competitive performance” of a given athlete, that in-fact as many scholars including myself have brought to light, that this is all about consumerism, preserving “femininity” over celebrating excellence and human performance in women as we do with men.
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Canadian Centre of Ethics in Sport [CCES]
CCES Anti-doping Control email response June 29th, 2011.

“…fluctuations in these hormones may be indicative of the use of Prohibited Substances and/or Methods. It may also serve as a screening tool to perform more detailed analysis of a sample for specific substances (e.g. synthetic testosterone). The laboratory would “only” report an adverse analytical finding (ie. positive test) if the presence of an exogenous (synthetic) form of a Prohibited Substance was detected.”
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Natural serum testosterone levels are measured not for the purpose “elevated natural secreted levels”, but for the purpose as markers to “register fluctuation” in doping control to that would indicate possibly intervention and or use of a synthetic testosterone by the athlete.

Measurement of an athlete natural levels are measured “solely” as a tool/reference marker, a base regulator that could show an adverse analytical finding of testosterone. As noted by doping control, ONLY then becomes reported of an athletes testosterone levels show an exogenous presence.

So women with natural occurring higher levels of testosterone, is NEVER reported unless an exogenous presence. (This is really important to the puzzle).

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) of which naturally impacts 18% or higher in female athletes (1 in 5 women), then stays under the radar their higher levels of natural production of testosterone. Though we measure natural serum levels, ONLY used as tail tail markers for testing purposes to show and possible irregularity and variance levels indicating a synthetic origin.

As the IOC has tried to address the Hyperandrogenism Rule as an issue of Intersex which it is NOT that either in an effort to confuse the public, that this is an issue of “Atypical bodies” in sport and that this rule is designed in an effort of “fairness in women’s sport”.

With the research and analytical findings, does not hold water. Hyperandrogenism and PCOS are neither a “Intersex type” though there are over a (100) different types (many person(s) living with an intersex type many times live their entire lives not even knowing they have it), neither as the IOC has expressed, hyperandrogenism or PCOS are in-fact, an intersex let alone a gender issue at all, but used as a tool to confuse, and “project as an attack on women’s sport”, and the concept of women being strong bodied and or strong featured, means that someone is physically cross sexed, is un-factual based on science and untrue.

PCOS, develops in 1/5 women from ages 8 to 45, do too cysts developing on their ovaries causing excessive excretion of androgens into their system. Hyperandrogenism, though similar on how it occurs and develops in women to that of PCOS, only 1/25000 are effected – that the difference is during pubescent development, the elevated androgen can commonly create “outward stronger features in a women’s presentation” though still feminine and ALL 100 % woman.

I hear from many of my girl friends in high performance (HP) cycling, though not unique to cycling in Canada and the United States, that they know, being clinically diagnosed by their physician having excessive testosterone levels. There are many many reasons up and above PCOS and Hyperandrogenism why women develop higher natural serum testosterone levels, it is in-fact common. Testosterone is a “male sex development” hormone, but an “everybody sex hormone”. Human-beings can not live without it and has nothing to with being either male or female on how you identify.

As noted – Important to the IOC’s focus on Hyperandrogenism and testosterone that 1/25000 women are effected by clinically by Hyperandrogenism, where 1/5 women develop PCOS.

The analytical findings and science, validates that Caster was targeted and this is ALL about preserving the “vision of femininity” in sport and has absolutely NOTHING to with either intersex and or performance/fairness as the International Olympic Committee wishes the public to believe.

We know just based statistically, that at a min. 18% of women competing in London in 3 weeks under the radar, and can be certain that the number is much higher, as experts say this is just the women who know and have been clinically diagnosed with PCOS and had symptoms that caused them to seek more information from their practitioner. Noted by doping control and confirmed, if for the IOC, testosterone really is an issue in women, anti-doping is clearly doing nothing about it.

Conclusion, clearly demonstrated based on the facts, specific women are being targeted solely based on what they look like and that they appear feminine enough for commercial purposes. For most women, this is an all to common struggle, but the IOC reconfirms that status and “keeping women in their feminine looking box” seen as sex objects first, athletes second solely for the purpose of commercialism, having absolutely NOTHING to do with either “Intersex and or competitive performance and or fairness in women’s sport.”

If the IOC was being “truthful” about their concerns of women’s natural serum testosterone levels it would have been reflected in anti-doping and passport system.  Which we can conclusively acknowledge is NOT being done.

This is all about “selective discrimination” for the sole purpose of consumerism of women bodies.

As a consequence, “real women” are getting hurt bye it!

Published July 2012

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MEET SARAH ROBLES, AMERICA’S STRONGEST WOMAN AND BODY IMAGE ACTIVIST

by Kellie Foxx-Gonzalez

July 3rd, 2012

Sarah Robles isn’t your average athlete — for starters, on a good day she can lift 568 pounds, the equivalent of an adult male lion. At 23-years-old, she’s the highest ranked weightlifter in the United States, and is probably the country’s best shot at winning an Olympic weightlifting medal at the upcoming London Olympics. Unfortunately, she’s also impoverished – receiving only $400/month from U.S.A Weightlifting, she struggles to pay for food, often relying upon the kindness of her community to fuel her 4,000 calorie lifting diet. The cause of her struggle? Robles, who is 5 feet, 10.5 inches tall and 275 pounds, doesn’t qualify as conventionally attractive enough to net sponsorships and endorsement deals.

Endorsements are largely how Olympians bring in cash for their sport — take star-swimmer Michael Phelps, for example, who signed a $1 million deal to be a spokesman for Mazda in China. Companies can also compensate athletes with free goods, such as nutritional products and supplements. Robles’ only product sponsorship thus far is with PowerBar. She told BuzzFeed: “You can get that sponsorship if you’re a super-built guy or a girl who looks good in a bikini. But not if you’re a girl who’s built like a guy,” she says.

Robles’ body composition had always caused her emotional hardship. From a young age she was incredibly self-conscious about her body type, and her fears about herself would only be slightly allayed when she started sports and realized that her large frame would prove to be an advantage. “I still have bad thoughts about myself, but I’ve learned that you have to love yourself the way you are,” Robles says. “I may look like this, but I’m in the Olympics because of the way I am.”

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Published July 2012

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The Guardian

The IOC’s superwoman complex: how flawed sex-testing discriminates
Behind the IOC’s new policy on male-female testosterone levels is plain bias about what a female athlete should look like.

By Rebecca Jordan-Young and Katrina Karkazis
July 2nd, 2012


Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) quietly dropped what may prove to be a bomb in the middle of the already explosive question of who can compete in women’s events in the 2012 London summer Games. The new sex-testing policy threatens to ban women whose bodies produce high levels of testosterone, what medicine calls hyperandrogenism.

In the interests of fairness, men with lower than normal levels will also be banned, or will be required to compete in the women’s divisions. The IOC has not yet clarified whether they will need to comply with women’s outfits.

OK, so we made up the part about men. But it would, indeed, make sense – that is, if anything in this policy made sense. The problem is that it doesn’t.

The new policy was expected, although the IOC has gone even further than last year’s policy adopted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in scrutinizing and harassing women who, as all experts agree, have not cheated, and whose athletic performances are clearly within the range of their peer female athletes.

It’s downright chilling that instead of discouraging the abuse of hyperandrogenism charges to harass women athletes, the IOC has actually called for the National Olympic Committees to “actively investigate any perceived deviation in sex characteristics” (pdf) among female athletes. (The accompanying bland suggestion that sanctions “may” be imposed on anyone found to ask for an investigation of an athlete in bad faith is not reassuring.)

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Published July 2012

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London 2012 Olympics: is measuring athletes’ ‘femaleness’ ever acceptable?

By Sam Murphy
June 14th, 2012

Sport is not a level playing field. If some athletes have ‘better’ hormones, then surely that’s the same as having better genes

London 2012 Olympics: is measuring athletes’ ‘femaleness’ ever acceptable?

Sport is not a level playing field. If some athletes have ‘better’ hormones, then surely that’s the same as having better genes

It’s a stressful time for any Olympic contender right now, as they focus on peaking at the right time, steering clear of injuries and preparing mentally for the ultimate contest. But some female athletes have an extra thing to worry about: gender authentication.

You may remember the furore surrounding the South African 800m runner Caster Semenya when, in 2009, she who won the world championships in Berlin by a huge 2-second margin. Even before the medals had been handed out, Semenya’s authenticity as a woman was being questioned and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirmed that gender verification tests were being undertaken. While Semenya’s case was being reviewed by the IAAF she was banned from competition, but did not escape the glare of media speculation (one headline asked “Woman, man or a little bit of both?”). Although the IAAF never made its findings public, it was widely reported that Semenya had both male and female sex organs and testosterone levels three times higher than typically found in a woman. Semenya got to keep her medal and, after an 11-month hiatus, the right to continue competing against other women. Through her legal representatives, she stated at the time: “I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being.”

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Published June, 2012

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The Times of India – AFI to wait for medical report on Pramanik case

June 14th, 2012

NEW DELHI: Athletics Federation of India on Thursday said that it won’t do anything now and wait for the medical report and police investigation on the allegation by a Kolkata woman that 2006 Asian Games gold medallist Pinki Pramanik was a “male” before taking any action.

AFI Secretary C K Valson said that the federation would wait for the result of medical report of Pramanik and would inform the IAAF if she turns out to be a male as alleged in a complaint lodged by a woman in Kolkata.

He, however, added that the IAAF rules were not clear on whether the medals Pramanik had won in national and international events would be stripped off or not.

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Published June 2012

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Proposed testosterone testing of some female olympians challenged by Stanford scientists

By Tracie White
Standford Medical Center

STANFORD, Calif. — Proposed Olympic policies for testing the testosterone levels of select female athletes could discriminate against women who may not meet traditional notions of femininity and distort the scientific evidence on the relationship between testosterone, sex and athletic performance, says a Stanford University School of Medicine bioethicist and her colleagues.

They also warn that the proposed policies would not only be unfair, but also could lead to female athletes being coerced into unnecessary and potentially harmful medical treatment in order to continue competing. The critique was published online today in The American Journal of Bioethics.

The testing policies, adopted a year ago by the International Association of Athletics Federations and now under consideration by the International Olympic Committee, call for using testosterone levels to decide whether an athlete is “feminine” enough to compete as a woman. The problem, the authors explain, is that there is insufficient evidence to set a benchmark for a normal testosterone levels in elite female athletes, let alone persuasive research showing that testosterone levels are a good predictor of athletic performance.

“What makes sex testing so complicated is that there is no one marker in the body we can use to say, ‘This is a man,’ or, ‘This is a woman,’” said first author of the paper Katrina Karkazis, PhD, a medical anthropologist and senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics. “These new policies try to get around that complexity by singling out testosterone levels as the most important aspect of athletic advantage. But what causes athletic advantage is equally complex and cannot be reduced to testosterone levels.”

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Published June 14th, 2012

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Out of Bounds? A Critique of the New Policies on Hyperandrogenism in Elite Female Athletes

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Certain Athletes Need to Be Deemed ‘Feminine’ Enough for Competition

By Katie J.M. Baker

Do female athletes with “unusually” high levels of male hormones have an unfair advantage on the field? The International Association of Athletics Federations thinks so: the organization recently decided that a woman cannot compete in track and field sports if she has too much testosterone in her apparently confusing body.
The issue has been a hot topic in South Africa ever since 21-year-old Caster Semenya won an 800-meter world championship and her competitors called her out for her “muscular biceps” and “husky voice.” “These kind of people should not run with us. For me, she’s not a woman. She’s a man,” said Elisa Cusma, who placed sixth in the race. Some might think Cusma sounds like a sore loser, but the IAAF has decreed that women like Semenya must have surgery or receive hormone therapy prescribed by an IAAF expert medical panel if they want to continue to compete, because they have an “unfair advantage,” said Dr. Stéphane Bermon, coordinator of the IAAF working group on Hyperandrogenism and Sex Reassignment in Female Athletics. “More muscle mass, easier recovery and a higher level of blood red cells.”

Semenya kept her medal and was eventually allowed to race, but she looks markedly more feminine now — according to the Toronto Star, she’s “almost unrecognizable from photographs taken during the height of the controversy.” Track and field managers at the university she trains at say they know she gets treatment, but that they can’t give any details. “We all accept . . . and she accepts . . . within sports you have to perform within certain guidelines, or else it will be chaos,” explained one manager. Semenya won’t talk about it either, but now that she has a “fit, feminine body” and wears tight clothes to show it off, people seem satisfied enough.

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Published June 12th 2012

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – PUBLIC NOTICE:

Correspondence sent to Arne Ljungqvist & International Olympic Committee (IOC), requesting compensation for victims of gender verification testing

June 11, 2012 a statement of request has been sent to IOC Medical Chair Arne Ljungqvist, IOC President Jacques Rogge that (2) funds be developed, to compensate female athletes who have been physically and publicly violated, the last (50) years, by unwarranted and false policy unsupported by science, falsely presented the media and general public, when in-fact now science and research had been done. The outcome and fallout on the individual  female athlete has been too costly. Top experts now concluding with scientific data presented, “the science does not match the policies”.

The IOC continues to evade recommendations and warnings from sport leaders and scholars behind the scenes, to avoid gross human rights and discrimination targeting women.

The letter to the IOC – (2) Funds Requested

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The Limits of Acceptable Biological Variation in Elite Athletes: Should Sex Ambiguity Be Treated Differently From Other Advantageous Genetic Traits?

J. Michael Bostwick, MD, and Michael J. Joyner, MD
June 2012

Elite athletes are unlike other people. They are gifted with the ability to be able to work their bodies faster, harder, and more skillfully than “mere mortals.” While the exercise of prodigious discipline is undoubtedly key to their successes, genetic and other biological variants likely factor into world-class performances, although how they do so is both complicated and poorly understood. In this context, disorders of sexual differentiation (DSDs) can sometimes give female competitors a masculine edge. As the 2012 Olympic Games approach, one such athlete, Caster Semenya, a middle-distance runner from South Africa, has been cleared to compete, although not without considerable controversy that triggered an extensive medical work-up ordered by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that confirmed a DSD and judged her to be a woman for the purpose of competition.

Dreger goes so far as to call the new testing requirements a “biological reduction of women to a hormonally disadvantaged class of people,” with females who have bountiful testosterone levels “medically made disadvantaged” through suppressive treatment.

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Published June 10, 2012

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The Toronto Star – Olympics struggle with ‘policing femininity’

By Stephanie Findlay
June 8th, 2012

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA— There are female athletes who will be competing at the Olympic Games this summer after undergoing treatment to make them less masculine.

Still others are being secretly investigated for displaying overly manly characteristics, as sport’s highest medical officials attempt to quantify — and regulate — the hormonal difference between male and female athletes.

Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was so fast and muscular that many suspected she was a man, exploded onto the front pages three years ago. She was considered an outlier, a one-time anomaly.

But similar cases are emerging all over the world, and Semenya, who was banned from competition for 11 months while authorities investigated her sex, is back, vying for gold.

Semenya and other women like her face a complex question: Does a female athlete whose body naturally produces unusually high levels of male hormones, allowing them to put on more muscle mass and recover faster, have an “unfair” advantage?

In a move critics call “policing femininity,” recent rule changes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, state that for a woman to compete, her testosterone must not exceed the male threshold.

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Published June 8th, 2012

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The Role of Gender in Participation in Disability Sport
By Ian Brittain

Gender appears to play a key role in participation rates amongst persons with disabilities. This can be partially accounted for by the fact that more men are permanently injured through accidents while more women have chronic disabling conditions that are not accident related (Grimes and French, 1987). Thierfeld and Gibbons (1986) showed that in competitive sports considerably fewer women are involved than men. They suggest that this is due to the fact that men do more dangerous things. They are more daring, have more accidents and become disabled. However, according to many authors, the problem goes much deeper than that. Huang (2005), Olenik (1999) and Guthrie (1999), to name but a few, all discuss the problems persons with disabilities, and women with disabilities in particular, face in any attempts to become involved in any kind of sporting activity.

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Published June 7th, 2012

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FOR HER OWN GOOD:
LEGAL JUSTIFICATIONS USED TO EXCLUDE
WOMEN & GIRLS FROM SPORTS

By Emily Marie Schmit

In the Graduate College
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

For athletics, 1972 was pivotal, as Title IX of the Education Amendments7 was passed making it illegal for any educational institution receiving federal funding to discriminate on the basis of sex. However, the pattern of backlash is evident in the subsequent interpretations and regulations of the law. One of the effects of Title IX was the drastic impact on women’s participation in sport. Despite the intent of the statute and dramatic increase in opportunity for and participation of women in sport, historical, social, and cultural notions of what it means to be a “woman” still haunt women in athletics. These notions continued to keep women out of some sporting arenas and are present within case law and the statute itself.

The judicial system relies on interpretations of culture and society; thus the interpretations of the law become intrinsically linked to the dominant ideologies of gender. Consequently, the law is not an autonomous system of knowledge but is intimately connected to greater societal view and often perpetuates and reinforces the status quo. Court records, federal regulations and laws illuminate dominant cultural views of femininity and masculinity, including views of females as athletes. Title IX is central to the experience of women and girls in sports in the United States; it provides a framework and historical guide to an exploration of the legal reasons and justifications used to keep women out of sport. It is important to look at Title IX itself, as well as its subsequent interpretations, as it embodies some of the same stereotypes of gender and sex which it was meant to remedy.

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Published May 30th, 2012

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