Does she need to have testicles to produce testosterone, right?

  • TheBigBrother@lemmy.worldOP
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    5 months ago

    I’m wondering about the Olympics boxer who knocked out the other boxer, how it is posible for her to have that amount of testosterone in her body? Is she a hermaphrodite?

    • Fondots@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      For starters, hermaphrodite isn’t really a term that’s used anymore.

      With “true” hermaphroditism, which is now know as ovotesticular syndrome, a person is born with both testiclular and ovarian tissue in some configuration- organs containing a mix of both tissue, two complete sets of ovaries and testicles, one of each, etc. This is an incredibly rare condition, with only around 500 recorded cases ever.

      There’s also what used to be called “pseudohermaphrodism” and both, as well as several other conditions would now fall under the umbrella of terms like “intersex” or “DSD” (Disorders of Sex Development" which is a very broad and much more common category that covers a range of different conditions with different causes and presentations that mean that in some way their physical attributes don’t align neatly with their biological sex. By some estimates, up to 1.7% of people could be considered intersex by some definition.

      This wikipedia article has a list of a few dozen different conditions that could be considered intersex in the prevalence section.

      There’s also conditions that most wouldn’t consider rise to the level of being intersex, but result in abnormal hormone levels and secondary sex characteristics (man-boobs, women growing facial hair, etc.)

      Transgender is when a person does not identify with the gender they are assigned at birth. They may be intersex in some way, or they may have totally normal sexual development, but at birth based on the way their genitals looked, whether they were normal or abnormal, their parents essentially decided “you are a boy” or “you are a girl” and raised them in accordance with that, but at some point in their life they realized that they don’t feel like that gender and identity as the other (or neither, or both in the case of non-binary gender identities)

      There’s one organization that claims to have tested her and found that she has XY chromosomes. That organization has a bit of a shifty record though and while it’s certainly a possibility, I don’t trust them enough to consider it settled.

      But even if she does have a y chromosome, there’s a handful of conditions that a genotypically male could be in all obvious ways phenotypically female, and you would never know unless you did genetic testing or did some medical imaging on their urogenital systems that wouldn’t give them any particular competitive edge. If they have, for example, someone with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome would have XY chromosomes, but in all ways appear female, and their body is essentially immune to testosterone so they wouldn’t have any competitive edge.

      She’s competing at some of the highest levels of female boxing, but she is competing she’s not absolutely dominating the sport, she’s lost matches, she’s not a shoe-in for the gold medal.

      We have no reason to think she’s trans, she’s never expressed anything to that effect, though even if she did, her options to express that, let alone seek gender affirming treatment, would likely be limited since Algeria isn’t exactly the most LGBTQ friendly country (putting it mildly)

      She may or may not be intersex in some fashion, like I said I don’t exactly trust the one source that claims to have tested her. The possibility exists, but I’m not convinced until/unless those results are corroborated by a more trustworthy organization. And if she does turn out to be intersex, what of it? Which gender should someone compete as if they don’t neatly fit into the traditional gender binary? She identifies as female and she’s competitive in the female competition, why not allow her to compete there?

      • TheBigBrother@lemmy.worldOP
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        5 months ago

        So is she trans? Or WTF I don’t understand the thing at this point? How is it posible she competed with a genetic women being a trans woman?

        • cam_i_am@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Mate I appreciate that you seem to be coming at this with honest curiosity, but do yourself a favour and get this information from reputable news sources.

          This whole thing is so polarised and so full of misinformation that anything you read from randos on social media you have no way of knowing if it’s credible or complete bullshit.

            • superkret@feddit.org
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              5 months ago

              There is no take. She’s a woman. She was born a woman. She always was a woman.
              She doesn’t have XY chromosomes or is in any other way intersex, to anyone’s knowledge. She’s just a woman that doesn’t fit into some people’s narrow views of what a woman should look like.
              This has nothing to do with trans issues. But it has a lot to do with policing women’s bodies.

            • cam_i_am@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              My take is irrelevant. Here’s a reputable news source about the issue: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-04/paris-olympics-imane-khelif-clinches-medal-in-boxing/104181158

              Tl;dr: she is and always has been a woman. The source of the controversy is the International Boxing Association, which claims she “failed an unspecified eligibility test to compete last year over elevated levels of testosterone.”

              Later in the article, in reference to the IBA: “the Russian-dominated body — which has faced years of clashes with the IOC — has refused to provide any information about the tests, underscoring its lack of transparency in nearly every aspect of its dealings, particularly in recent years.”

          • TheBigBrother@lemmy.worldOP
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            5 months ago

            So she is just a normal woman? Born with ovaries? Just she worked out more and it’s better at the sport? So if it’s that way I believe it’s fair play.

        • evidences@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          She’s a generic women, XY female it’s a thing. That being said we don’t know if she actually is XY female. The IOC says she’s meets all qualifications to fight as a female, those being assigned female at birth and female on her passport. The only source we have that she may have XY chromosomes is the IAB president telling media that’s what her disqualification was about.

          It should be noted though that we don’t know what tests, if any, were performed to determine this. Also to, the best of my knowledge, there’s no actual proof of elevated testosterone levels aside from the disqualification last year.

          I think that the IOC banned the IAB from running the Olympic competition and the complete lack of transparency from the IAB cats a big shadow on their ruling.