The World Holds Female Athletes to a Far Stricter Standard Than Male Ones
I suppose it should be no surprise that the trans panic invaded the Olympics, but the treatment of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has been beyond the pale.
After reading several online comments from both men and women who clearly felt entitled to comment on this woman’s body, I became curious about something. I realized I was seeing a lot of talk about women’s testosterone levels being within an accepted range at the Olympics and other sports events.
But, I wondered, does the Olympic Committee — or any other sports body — test men for their testosterone levels?
I get they test men for drugging, and anabolic steroids — which is just the medical term for synthetic testosterone. But do they test men’s natural testosterone levels?
What do you think the answer is?
After several tries of Googling, with various words and phrases, I legitimately could not find any news story discussing cis-male athletes’ testosterone levels being tested at all, let alone a single man ever being penalized for having naturally high testosterone levels. None. Not one.
It’s only female athletes who are regularly tested and regularly penalized, for having “too much” testosterone. Often, the testing is borne out of nothing more…
