Gender Testing in Sport. Ethics, cases and controversies. Introduction

Sandy Montañola (1) , Aurélie Olivesi (2)

1 ARENES - Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias
2 ELICO - Equipe de recherche de Lyon en sciences de l'information et de la communication

After South African athlete Caster Semenya won the 800m title at the 2009 World Championships she was obliged to undergo gender testing and was withdrawn, for a time, from international competition. The way that the different locutors embraced this controversy represents a rich, multi-layered example of the construction of gender in wider society and the interrelationships between sport, culture and the media. Semenya became a famous cause célèbre and the case can be taken as an indicator of the tensions of her time, and serve as a link between medical sciences, society and gender. Gender Testing in Sport: Ethics, Cases and Controversies is the first book to explore the case in depth, from socio-cultural, ethical and legal perspectives with a comprehensive, international and multi-disciplinary approach. Analysing what came to be called “the Caster Semenya Case” this book explores in depth, beyond Semenya’s own circumstances, the ethics of how gender norms in sport, and in society, are constructed through appearance, behaviour and sporting performance. Including discussion of key concepts such as ‘intersex’, ‘body- norms’, and ‘fairness’, Gender Testing in Sport is a fascinating book and is important reading for anybody with an interest in sport studies, gender studies or biomedical ethics.

Mots clés: fair competition; Intersex

Domaines: Sciences de l'information et de la communication; Etudes sur le genre

Sandy Montañola, Aurélie Olivesi. Gender Testing in Sport. Ethics, cases and controversies. Introduction. Sandy Montanola; Aurélie Olivesi. Gender Testing in Sport. Ethics, Cases and Controversies, Routledge, pp.1-12, 2016, 9781138852914. ⟨hal-01979542⟩