Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Vagina Museum (vagina_museum), 2021-03-12 (starts with the note: "Content warning: this thread mentions genital mutilation, anti-intersex discrimination and body shaming.") [bold emphasis added]

Good afternoon, let us take you on a brief history of the practice of "sex verification" in sport.

[...]

By the 1950s, it was decided that women competing in sport should submit to sex verification. In the 50s, this took the form of what was known colloquially as "nude parades". It did what it said on the tin. Women stood before someone who inspected their naked bodies.

[...]

In 1968, the method of testing changed to something less invasive but still problematic: chromosome testing. All athletes were tested for the presence of a Y chromosome.

This practice of mandatory chromosome testing continued until the late 1990s, with one single, solitary woman exempted: Princess Anne.

[...]

The consequences for "failing" a sex verification test have been dire. Women were banned from competing, shamed and humiliated and subjected to endless speculation about their bodies.

Intimate medical details of women were leaked to the media, and for some athletes, even long after their careers were completed, details of their genitals would be published, taken from autopsy reports.

This is, presumably, why it was decided it would be very inappropriate to subject a princess to such treatment.

[...]

In the 1960s, suspicions about women and leaking of private information focused disproportionately on women from Eastern Europe. In the present day, there's still a discrepancy, but focus has shifted to scrutiny and speculation on women from the Global South.

[...]

In the entire history of formalised sex verification in women's sport from the 50s to the present day, do you know how many instances of men disguising themselves in order to sneak into women's sport they've found? Zero.