The testosterone rule—constructing fairness in professional sport

INTRODUCTION This note engages in the public debate over the participation of female athletes with hyperandrogenism in professional sport. Hyperandrogenism, a condition leading to higher testosterone levels than would be expected for ‘biological females’, is thought by many to provide affected athletes with a competitive edge over non-affected athletes.1 In 2011, when public attention was drawn to runner Caster Semenya, international sporting organizations implemented policies to monitor testosterone levels in female athletes as part of traditional ‘sex testing’.2 The new policy required that female athletes have a testosterone level under 10 nmol/L in order to be eligible to compete as female, and recommending that athletes with higher testosterone levels seek medical advising for further treatment.3 Thenewpolicywas criticized for essentially expellinghyperandrogenic athletes from participating in professional sports unless they undergo dramatic medical modifications, and was recently suspended temporarily by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after runner Dutee Chand refused to regulate her testosterone levels in order