Dr. Alan Rogol: Sex, Gender and the Olympics

08/20/24 • 41 min

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Alan Rogol discuss the complexities of gender, sex, and identity in elite sports, with a focus on the societal expectations and controversies surrounding gender eligibility in sports. Dr. Rogol touches on some of the history of women’s identities in elite sports, including some from the recent 2024 Paris Summer Games. Throughout the discussion, Therese and Dr. Rogol highlight the need for inclusive politics and having a respectful approach to athletes’ identities. This is a complicated topic, still undecided as to what is fair and acceptable.

Key Takeaways:

When women were allowed to compete in the Olympics, originally it was only allowed in three events: croquet, golf, and tennis. All were considered socially appropriate, with no bodily contact, and while wearing normal clothes of full, layered skirts.
Sex and gender are not the same thing. Gender is self-identified, an expression, and is changeable. There are also varieties of sex - sex at birth, sex of rearing, legal sex, and chromosomal sex.
Many of the girls who find out they have an XY chromosome after being identified as female at birth often don’t find out until later in life. Because while they had testosterone, they also had a gene that prevented their bodies from responding to it. These girls never developed as males, and in fact went through female puberty, but lacked a uterus.
The IOC has many drugs that are banned except for certain situations. These include testosterone, endocrine drugs, growth hormones, and insulin among others.

"It is not the level of absolute testosterone that you have that counts. What counts is the stuff that is biologically active, and that is very complicated, and that's why numbers aren't so helpful." — Dr. Alan Rogol

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