Olympic Boycott: Day One

[rusty_armour]

So today is the first official day of my Beijing Olympics boycott. It's probably not even worth writing about as it's not going to have a major impact on the world or anything. Hell, it's not even going to have that big an impact on me. Usually, I'm doing well if I watch the Olympic opening ceremonies and some events on the first day. After that, my attention wanders, I get bored, and then I stop watching. This time around, I just won't tune in at all. Tonight, I'll probably catch up on a couple of shows I've taped over the last few days (like the eighth episode of Life on Mars). Oh, and Torchwood is premiering on SPACE. For some reason I can't fathom, SPACE is starting with the second series instead of the first. However, I'll probably tune in anyway. I'm hoping I might manage to scribble something at the same time. It's awful but sometimes I write in front of the TV. This is usually when I can't be motivated to write at all and think I can fool my brain into believing that I'm not actually writing but just watching TV.

Uh...maybe the second day of the boycott will be a little more exciting. *g*

Comments

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

However, who's to say that a male athlete who's slight and a bit androgynous couldn't pretend to be female? I honestly believe that if such tests have to be carried out, that they be carried out on both sexes.

But... if a man were to do that and they only test female athletes wouldn't he get caught while pretending to be a female? :S
I recently saw a documentary about female athletes from former East Germany who, at the time, were given a lot of hormones and other nasty stuff. One of them actually decided to become a man when her athletic career was over while others look very masculine these days. So it makes sense to me that they'd only test the women.

[inkscribe.livejournal.com]

But... if a man were to do that and they only test female athletes wouldn't he get caught while pretending to be a female? :S

Well that's just it ... there are plenty of 'men' who aren't XY males. If those genetic differences give them an advantage in whatever sport they specialise in, why should they not also be disqualified? (... If the games are in fact about only including XX or XY athletes).

I tried to find a succinct non-bloggish summary of these sorts of issues but didn't (lots of info avail, none of it succinct *g*), so I'll link you to an excellent blog post. The commentaries get into more details regarding some of the genetic profiles. Bottom line: human 'sex' is far broader than what we're taught in school and testing one 'apparent' sex for abnormalities is absolutely inequal, no ifs, ands, or buts. (Erm, is my NSHO showing? *g*)

http://www.bilerico.com/2008/08/gender_testing_and_the_art_of_war.php



And for what would have been a then-famous example of this situation occuring with an Olympic-class athlete, look at the case of Erik Schinegger (then known as "Erika").
http://www.ftmaustralia.org/library/05/erik.html

I think there's a world of difference between someone who deliberately takes hormones or other substances for the purposes of performance enhancement and deception versus someone who has a genetic condition that makes them a little different than the other girls or boys.

Obviously for Erik, and any others like him, this is a profoundly private matter that does not need to be exposed on the public stage. Or, if so, then all athletes should be equally at-risk for having their private medical matters exposed in this manner.

*shakes head sadly*

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the fabulous links, inkscribe! :-) I'm looking forward to reading more about gender-tending. It's something I knew very little about up till now, so the extra information is much appreciated.

[inkscribe.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! It's a fascinating area of study, and involves many tangly-sciencey-things that I am still learning how to decipher.

:-)