Causó mucha sorpresa el caso de la atleta sudafricana Caster Semenya, quien – debido a sospechas acerca de su pertenencia sexual - fue suspendida por la IAFF para competir durante buena parte del año 2010, a espera de los exámenes médicos que habrían de decidir si se la consideraría o no como mujer en las competencias. Durante 2011, el COI y la IAAF determinaron que las atletas con hiperandrogenismo (niveles demasiado altos de hormonas masculinas) deberán reducir dichos niveles mediante el uso de estrógenos para hacer así más equitativas las competencias. En esta presentación cuestionamos esa reglamentación por considerarla sexista y contraria al espíritu del deporte. El entrenamiento para optimizar las aptitudes físicas y psíquicas, la alimentación etc., no difi ere mucho entre los atletas de élite. En cambio, el factor que defi ne la contienda es lo que se ha denominado lotería genética. Esa excelencia física es aceptada en el deporte de élite y genera la admiración y el reconocimiento social y económico de que goza el vencedor de una contienda deportiva. Esto es así siempre y cuando no se trate de una mujer. Porque en ese caso, la atleta que se destaque como genéticamente superior (mayor nivel de andrógenos) será compelida a reducir sus niveles hormonales naturales mediante la administración de hormonas (“¿doping al revés”?). Los dirigentes deportivos actúan como policías sexuales al pretender eliminar un factor natural en las atletas intersexuales, en vez de permitirles ser premiadas y admiradas por sus ventajas naturales, de la misma forma que lo son sus colegas masculinos.

Palabras clave: Hiperandrogenismo. Intersexualidad. Equidad. Genética.

INTERSEX FEMALE ATHLETES AND GENDER EQUITY: ARE THE IOC´S NEW REGULATIONS SEXISTIC?

Summary

In 2010, the South-African athlete Caster Semenya was suspended from all competitions by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAFF) due to the suspicion that she was not a woman. After a medical investigation, the International Olympic Committee and IAFF decided in 2011 to allow her to compete again. As a consequence of the Semenya case, both organizations issued later that year new regulations establishing that women athletes with hyperandrogenism (that is, too high levels of masculine hormones) won’t be allowed to compete. In this article we question those regulations as we consider them sexist and contrary to the spirit of sports. Elite athletes do not diff er much regarding physical training to optimize their physical and psychic abilities, their dedication to their sport discipline, etc. Rather, what decides a sport competition is what has been called “the genetic lottery”. This physical excelence is widely accepted in elite sports and is at the basis of both the admiration and the social as well as economic recognition enjoyed by the winner of a sport contest. That is to say, provided the winner is not a woman! Because in that case the female athlete who turns out to be genetically superior (because she naturally has higher level of testosterone) will be, although indirectly, compelled to reduce her androgen level by means of medical treatment (which we characterize in our article as “reverse doping”). Sport officials act in that regard as sex police when they try to eliminate a natural factor in intersex female athletes´genetic constitution, instead of allowing them to be rewarded and admired on grounds of their natural superiority, in the same way as their (also genetically superior!) male colleagues are.

Key words: Hyperandrogenism. Intersexuality. Equity. Genetics.