Women’s bodies have been constantly governed, judged, and declared unsuitable by those in power. Confined by the unfair, demeaning regulations that have guided elite sports, female athletes were placed under scrutiny time and again to be systematically dissected, forced to prove they deserve to be there at all.
The International Olympic Committee has announced it will implement similarly harsh testing policies for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, enforcing SRY gene testing upon all female athletes. SRY is the sex-determining gene that is located on the Y chromosome, triggering the formation hormones that result in male-typical sex development. The IOC’s decision intends to “protect the female category” and supposedly advocates for fairness, justice, and integrity in the Games. However, as illustrated throughout history, the line between protection and persecution has always been razor thin.
In 1966, the IOC and the International Association of Athletics Federations mandated humiliating sex verification tests aimed only toward women in the form of “nude parades” that required athletes to walk naked in front of medical professionals to determine eligibility. To address this horrifying assault on the agency, international sports committees introduced SRY gene testing in the 1990s. Through this process, all athletes are genetically examined for the presence of the Y chromosome, which generally indicates a biological male. The test was seemingly straightforward and appeared to be the perfect way to guarantee the “protection of the female category.”
However, the test gave positive results for women with an extra chromosome, or whose genotype contained certain amounts of Y chromosomal DNA. More importantly, the test didn’t account for those with differences of sex development or androgen insensitivity syndrome. Despite its apparent simplicity, the test discounted women who didn’t align with the binary, orthodox perceptions of the female category and body genotype. In fact, even the researcher that initially identified the SRY gene, Andrew Sinclair, remains confident that, biologically, the gene test is flawed in its assessment of the female category. In a perverse claim to “protecting the female category,” the test instead unfairly excluded some of those women it aimed to defend, and therefore the IOC abandoned it in the late 1990s in an effort toward greater inclusion and justice. Now, in 2026, the IOC is reintroducing these same practices that initially proved unsuccessful, failing to appropriately address the issue at hand and instead blindly placing ineffective restrictions to regain a semblance of control.
Although the IOC allowed room for error in testing — acknowledging women with differences of sex development that deviate from traditional female genotypes — it is the principle of the testing itself that inflicts harm on female athletes’ rights. In the past, these tests have always been exclusively aimed at women. Men have never been flagged, tested, or excluded from their sport as a result of their chromosomes or hormones. Categorizing some athletes as “true” women and some as “others” reinforces patriarchal, hegemonic ideals. These beliefs not only restrict women within their own spheres of power, but diverts the narrative away from their agency and athletic ability — scrutinising their validity as females.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned the IOC’s efforts to conduct genetic sex testing, publishing a public critique of this surveillance of women’s bodies. Along with criticism of the testing method, the U.N. also explained why the process behind the policy itself was so dangerous. Unlike the 2021 IOC testing policy that gave international federations the right to decide testing policy, the 2026 blanket regulations appear to have bypassed the multi-stakeholder policy that allowed for transparency.
Sports federations must accept scientific consensus to support female athletes. It is essential that we constantly update and reform our policies when it comes to sex testing to avoid falling back on disproven, erroneous methods. Regulations and eligibility must move away from blanket rules and focus on individualized, sport-specific rules that account for the nonbinary nature of gender today.
Sports have always been a reflection of our spirit and capacity for greatness. To maintain those values, we must not allow prejudice and discrimination to detract from the competition. Ultimately, the finish line should be the only thing standing between an athlete and victory.