TheMuse.ca – By David Karp
Academics discuss sports rules for transsexuals, intersexed people
Victoria (CUP) – What is a woman? Are male-to-female transsexuals real women? While sportsorganizations struggle to cope with these questions, a University of Victoria (UVic) Law Panel on Transgendered Athletes in Olympic Cycling took on the issue on Jan. 24. More than 50 students attended the 90-minute seminar, which included presentations by UBC human kinetics professor Jim Rupert and Simon Fraser queer sociologist Ann Travers.
Sporting organizations have long struggled to determine who is a female and who isn’t. In 1966, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) brought in medical examinations, where doctors visually examined athletes to ensure they were female.