The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Gender verification in sport: the need for change?
Open accessAbstract
Most of an estimated one in 504 sportswomen fail the gender verification test unjustly. Until clinical examination becomes acceptable, a new code of practice is proposed which avoids unfair disqualification.
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In 1972 the IOC introduced the Barr body test, a sex chromatin or buccal smear test that involved screening epithelial cells scraped from inside the cheek, stained to reveal presence or absence of the Barr body.
“Two years later the IOC introduced a more ‘scientific’ examination – the Barr body test. It was a sex chromatin or buccal smear test that involved the screening of epithelial cells scraped from inside of the cheek. The cells are then stained to reveal the presence or absence of the Barr body i.e., cellular artefacts.”
From Medicine, Sport and the Female Body (2012) · cites this paper as [978]
The section on paradoxical findings describes the buccal smear test as examining cheek cells stained to reveal Barr bodies. But the Results of eligibility testing in sport (p. 19) says that at the 1972 Munich Olympics, sex chromatin tests used hair roots instead of buccal smears and Y-chromatin testing was added to the Barr body test. The paper therefore does not support the claim that the IOC introduced the cheek-cell Barr body test in 1972. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Research works printed but not linked: 17
- Wilmore JH. The application of science to sport: physiological profiles of male and female athletes. Can I Appl Physiol 1979; 27: 25-31.
- Dyer KF. The trend of the male-female performance differential in athletics, swimming and cycling 1948-1976. J Biosoc Sci 1977; 9: 325-38. · DOI
- Athletes's sex secret. The Guardian 1981; 26 Jan. 4 Donohoe T, Johnson N. Drugs and the female athlete, In: Foul play. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986; 66-79.
- Tachezy R. Pseudohermaphroditism and physical efficiency. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1969; 9: 119-22.
- Ryan AJ. Sex and the singles player. Physician and Sports Med 1976; 4: 39-41.
- Hay E. Sex determination in putative female athletes. JAMA 1972; 221: 998-9. · DOI
- Lamed D. The feminity test: a woman's first Olympic hurdle. Womensports 1976; 3: 8-11, 41.
- Turnbull A. Women enough for the Games? New Scientist 1988; 15 Sept: 61-4.
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- de la Chapelle A. The use and misuse of sex chromatin screening for 'gender identification' of female athletes. JAMA 1986; 256: 1920-3. · DOI
- Simpson JL. Gender testing in the Olympics. JAMA 1986; 256: 1938. · DOI
- Ferguson-Smith MA, Cooke A, Affara NA, Boyd E, Tolmie JL. Genotype-phenotype correlations in XX males and their bearing on current theories of sex determination. Hum Gent 1990; 84: 198-202.
- Caldwell F. Victorious in court, she's defeated on court. Physician and Sportsmed 1977; 5: 26, 28.
- New M, Levine LS. Recent advances in 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Ann Rev Med 1984; 35: 649-63. · DOI
- Schwinger E. Problems of sex differentiation in athletics. Atleticastudi 1981; 5: 72-80.
- Sakamoto H, Nakanoin K, Komatsu H, Michimoto T, Takashima E, Furuyama J. Femininity control at the XXth Universiade in Kobe, Japan. Int I Sports Med 1988; 9: 193-5. · DOI
- de la Chapelle A, Genel M. Gender verification of female athletes. Lancet 1987; ii: 1265-6. · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Harper, J., O'Donnell, E., Sorouri Khorashad, B., McDermott, H., & Witcomb, G. L. (2021) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-103106 · Cited by 206
Medicine, Sport and the Female Body
(2012) · Medicine, Sport and the Body · doi:10.5040/9781849662062.ch-007
Metadata
- Authors
- Ferguson-Smith, M. A., & Ferris, E. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- ORCID
- Ferguson-Smith, M A
- Venue
- British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 1991-03
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 17-20
- ISSN
- 0306-3674 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-0480
- PMC
- PMC1478807
- OpenAlex
- W2104670697
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 5.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal of Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sports, Gender, and Society
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Keywords
- gender verification, female athletes, disqualification, physical examination, code of practice, sex testing, women's sports, fairness in sport
- MeSH terms
- Chromosome Aberrations, Female, Humans, Male, Sex Characteristics, Sex Determination Analysis, Sports, Task Performance and Analysis, Chromosome Disorders, History, 20th Century
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