For nearly 15 years, we have advocated abolition of laboratory-based,
on-site testing for gender verification in sports competition.1-11
The ostensible goal of gender verification is to ensure that female athletes
do not unwittingly compete against men. Given that men presumably would have
an unfair competitive advantage on the basis of speed or muscle mass, such
a policy superficially seems endorsable on the grounds of fairness. In reality,
gender verification tests are difficult, expensive, and potentially inaccurate.1,4,8,10 Furthermore,
these tests fail to exclude all potential impostors (eg, some 46,XX males),
are discriminatory against women with disorders of sexual development, and
may have shattering consequences for athletes who "fail" a test.1,4,10