[mikeyyuiok]

(I did a search and could not see that this story has ever been posted here. If it has, my apologies for repeating)

Tennis Controversy: Female Player (with Male Past)
By Mary Kearl

Who does a person born with both male and female sex organs, but who identifies as one gender, compete against in sex-segregated sporting events?

Sarah Gronert, a 22-year-old tennis pro from Germany who was born with both male and female genitalia, has chosen to compete against women, and that has some in the tennis community up in arms. "There is no girl who can hit serves like that, not even Venus Williams," says the coach of an opponent Gronert recently beat. The coach, Schlomo Tzoref, also claims, "This is not a woman, it's a man." Is Tzoref just a disgruntled coach, trying to stir up controversy, or is there any validity to his claim? What makes a man a man, and what makes a woman a woman -- and how does being either affect one's ability to win?

The Olympics has one answer; the WTA has another; across the board at national and international levels there seems to be a free-for-all in deciding how to allow players who do not fit into the binary division of traditionally defined female and male to compete. Meanwhile, science has its own explanations and advice for the sports community.

Does Gronert Have an Unfair Advantage?
The Biology of Being Born in Between Male and Female

"It sounds like this person, from a medical standpoint, would have an intersex condition, where you have an identifiable genetic hormonal problem," says Jack Turko, M.D., endocrinologist at the Department of Endocrinology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and director of Dartmouth College's Health Services Center. "If she had both male and female genitalia, that's describing a hermaphrodite -- which is a rare condition. More likely her genitalia didn't look male and didn't look female. Without knowing what the person had and without knowing what operations the person had," it is hard to say how she would be affected and what advantage she would have, if any.

Turko explains that Gronert may have had one of about 20 or 30 different interesex conditions, each of which may have different levels of testosterone and require different procedures.

"Depending on which specific condition the person has, the person may have male hormones, which could lead to elevated testosterone levels and muscle mass. Of course, there are a lot of women who lift weights and have a lot of muscle mass, and a lot of men who don't," Dr. Turko explains. For example, if she’d been born a true hermaphrodite, with "an ovary on one side and testicle on one side and opted to remove the testicle, afterwards the testosterone no longer would be elevated," Dr. Turko says.

Rest of story: http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-c...ex-conditions/

[mikeyyuiok]

Photo:

[Flikemommoilt]

She's 22 and doesn't even have a ranking, so I guess I'm not following what the big deal is. Though I guess I'd feel differently if I were female and had to compete against her all the time at local tournaments.

::

This certainly challenges our narrow social views of gender. That's a good thing because we need to think about this more. Credit to her parents, though, for not forcing a gender upon her when she was an infant. There's a wealth of anecdotal evidence from intersex people who describe that as the ultimate cruelty because their parents chose a gender, usually at the urging of a physician, quite contrary to what feels natural to them later in life.

[mirzaterak]

I'm curious as to how fast is her serve that has an opponent's coach complaining about it.

TA

[inmeirulez]

Kind of disappointed, I was hoping it was a player I'd heard of .

If people at the scrub level are still beating her, I don't see what the problem is.

[soitlyobserty]

A General view of the WTA on the subject

In the event that the gender of a player is questioned, the medical
delegate (or equivalent) of the WTA shall have the authority to take
all appropriate measures for the determination of the gender of a
player. The results of any tests conducted will not be made public,
but will be reported to the WTA Legal Department who shall
advise the Board of Directors of the gender of the player concerned.
Failure by a player to submit to testing upon the request of the
WTA shall subject the player to immediate suspension from competition
until such time as the appropriate testing is carried out in
accordance with this rule. All tests will be at the expense of the
player.
b. Transsexuals
Any individuals undergoing sex reassignment from male to female
before puberty are regarded as girls and women (female), while
those undergoing reassignment from female to male before puberty
are regarded as boys and men (male).
Individuals undergoing sex reassignment from male to female after
puberty are eligible for participation in WTA Tour Tournaments
under the following conditions:
i. Surgical anatomical changes such as gonadectomy have
been completed, including external genitalia changes;

ii. Legal recognition of the female gender has been conferred by
the appropriate official authorities;
iii. Hormonal therapy appropriate for the female sexual assignment
has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a
sufficient length of time to minimize gender-related advantages
in sport competitions; and
iv. Eligibility should begin no sooner than two (2) years after
gonadectomy.
In all instances, a confidential case-by-case evaluation will occur
Source: WTA Rulebook page 24-25

[MyLeva]

Like the tour is going to be overrun by he-she's. I think it's ridiculous that we're all willing to confuse each other with nicknames players enjoy while anyone would question allowing a player to live her life as the gender she identifies with.

And God forbid she have success and bring some visibility to a hideously marginalized group.

[MaickiP]

Like the tour is going to be overrun by he-she's. I think it's ridiculous that we're all willing to confuse each other with nicknames players enjoy while anyone would question allowing a player to live her life as the gender she identifies with.

And God forbid she have success and bring some visibility to a hideously marginalized group.

[Sniliabiz]

I'm curious as to how fast is her serve that has an opponent's coach complaining about it.

TA

Faster than Venus Williams, apparently.

[MaickiP]

Faster than Venus Williams, apparently.

I doubt that. I think that was just angry coach talk.

[Flikemommoilt]

It's gotta be an exageration... If she served faster than Venus, she'd at least have a ranking. This is a player who hasn't even played 3 challenger/futures events in the past 12 months. If she had, she'd at least have a ranking with 3 points on the computer.

::

Well said, bea.

[BaselBimbooooo]

Like the tour is going to be overrun by he-she's. I think it's ridiculous that we're all willing to confuse each other with nicknames players enjoy while anyone would question allowing a player to live her life as the gender she identifies with.

And God forbid she have success and bring some visibility to a hideously marginalized group.

You better say that.

[Sniliabiz]

I doubt that. I think that was just angry coach talk.

I was pointing out the exaggeration

[formobilagsw]

This reminds me of Martina Hingis's rant against Amelie Mauresmo when Momo beat her early on when MoMo was playing the tour....Martina was screaming that that MUST be a man....no woman has muscles THAT big or hits the ball THAT hard! I was LMAO! I was totally captivated with Amelie, it seemed like she just stormed out of no where! But....

If this is in fact....a female.....well what's the big deal? Venus hits harder than a lot of the men on the tour. If this is in fact....a man biologically / physically then she shouldn't be playing on the WTA no matter who she identifies with.

But the article was a bit confusing and it doesn't specifically say if she is physically woman or man.....or what exactly her condition is.....what I'd like to know (regardless of her physical genitals) is...how much testosterone she has? But really, it sounds like....someone spoke out in public about a very private issue and caused controversy where....there really should be none. Probably, someone was pissed about losing.....so I say we respect the young woman's privacy and consider that if she ever DOES move up in ranks.....do we need to see this story coming up in every single article that will ever be written about her?

[bonyrek]

Since Venus Williams can hit a serve faster than me, does that mean that sheś a man, or that I m a woman? I can never remember.