Naturally High Testosterone Snares Female Athletes in Rio
So those (temporarily suspended) International Association of Athletics Federations regulations for Olympic athletes, the ones that push genital surgery to reduce testosterone: do FGM campaigners care? What about the politicians who latched onto FGM recently as a major feminist cause to “show they care”?
There always seems to be heavy shades of racism/xenophobia when mainstream politicians raise the topic of FGM, but advocates I’ve met have seemed much better. They talk about education and support in communities, staffing from communities and community led initiatives. That’s a lot better than politicians who seem to think carceral options are called for and that this is something of “an endemic issue for immigrants” (so you can clearly see the racist hook being applied).
But I’ve not seen the IAAF decision or recent publication of estimates for how many cis female athletes have had surgery come up in the same feminist anti-FGM discussions. It can’t just be that supporting transphobia is considered too important to override concerns for cis/intersex women being pushed into unnecessary surgery they don’t want or need. It’s racism, right? The OIC and IAAF are considered Western so when they pressure people into this sort of surgery then it’s just how things are, nothing like when people “from over there or who came from over there” see similar issues of forced surgery pushed by cultural norms.