Not Sure You're a Woman? WTF?

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OK, there's this South African woman competing in the world championships in track and field, and officials have asked her to take a gender test to confirm she is a woman.

You would think this would be a relatively easy thing to accomplish.

If she had a sex change operation her genetic profile would still be "XY" (male) as opposed to "XX" (female).

Similarly, there is a condition where people who are genetically male have a defect in their genetic code in which they cannot produce testosterone receptors, so even though they are genetically male, they are by all appearances female. However, a simple genetic screening test could tell if either of these things are true.

However, according to the article:

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the test was “extremely complex, difficult”. He further stated that the test has been started but "requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender" and that "the results were not expected for weeks."

Can someone enlighten me here? How can something seemingly simple require five doctos and weeks of testing to confirm?

Linky.

 

There are several genetic mutations that can affect the male/female interaction which cannot be detected with a simple test. Chimaerism in rarest incidents, but sounds awesome

 

She could actually be an hermaphrodite -- it is rare, but occurs.

 

True, but hermaphrodies are either XX or XY. They aren't 1.5X 0.5Y.

 

I'd always heard true hermaphrodites are XXY -- it's a genetic defect.

 

I remember reading about an African track athlete a couple years ago who it turned out was a male. She claims to have been born a hermaphrodite and her healer gave her a mix of medicines to reduce the male organs. Then at some point they had a disagreement so they grew back or something. Not sure if it is the same woman considering the time gap, but still a weird situation.

 

XXY are not hermaphrodites. They're men with severe hormonal imbalance and usually some medical conditions, but they're still men genetically (and physiologically too - they have a penis and no vagina, though their breasts develop like women's).

Really a simple karyotype will reveal her genetic profile and end the problem. If they want to determine gender genetically then that is that. If they want to determine it physiologically and disregard the genetic profile, then all they need to do is take a peak at what's between her legs (or his legs I suppose). It's nowhere near as hard as they've made it sound.

 

Well, even if it were soft, that would provide pretty good evidence.

Edit: Oops! Another joke in the Alley. But in my defense, I didn't notice at first that this thread was moved from Whatnots.

 

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/08/caster-semenya-male-or-female.html

Here is a note from the above link:
"(I must clarify this - it's not an issue of male vs female, but of "entirely female", since she may possess secondary male characteristics as a result of some condition, reported as hermaphroditism)."

 

The whole thing is still bollocks, including the article you just linked to. Pseudohermaphrodites can be identified very easily - you don't need a "multi-disciplinary approach" and you certainly don't need a psychologist! All you need is one gynecologist. True hermaphroditism doesn't occur naturally in humans and as far as I know there haven't been any medically identified cases. It just seems the whole issue is very muddled because no one can decide how they want to differentiate between the sexes. Do they want to do it based on genetics, or based on physiology? From a medical point of view doing it in any way other than genetics would be silly, but from a sports point of view physiology could make more sense in terms of hormonal balance. But the whole "entirely female" thing is a bit rubbish - secondary male characteristics do not necessarily mean pseudohermaphroditism, and unless the effect is hormonal I don't see why it should affect the outcome anyway.

 

Actually, it sounds to me like they want to do it based on biochemistry, which, IMO, is the most screwed up way possible. Still, it explains the psychologist. Determining brain chemistry by asking questions is a lot easier than doing it by cutting open the skull and taking samples.

 

If they're using a psychologist to do biochemistry, then they really need to have their heads examined

 

That's the first thing I thought of when I read the comment too. A psychologist may very well have knowledge of chemical receptors in the brain, but to term this knowledge as biochemistry is really a stretch.

 

Psychologists are usually given a support role in a case of determining gender without surgery

 

I'm not a woman.

 

That's Kleinfelter's Syndrome.

 

I can't run 800m as fast as any of those women in that final. Maybe that means I'm not a man!