Intersex Discrimination in Sports

Sam Sharpe hugs fellow athletes at a swim meet

Athletes who are intersex deserve the fun, confidence, and friendship that sports can provide, like anyone else. Throughout the history of sports, many women suspected to be intersex have been subjected to invasive “sex testing.” Women in sports who are perceived as not being “woman enough” have been forced to alter their bodies to be allowed to play. Black and Brown women from the Global South are especially scrutinized.

This playbook is now being used to target transgender girls and women. Increasingly, bills and policies are attempting to restrict transgender and intersex girls and women from playing the sport they love. These bills fail to understand that sex and gender are complex; many attempt to define womanhood by genetics, reproductive anatomy, and hormones. They create strict and unscientific sex categories that many intersex people, especially girls and women, do not fit into. This threatens their access to their sport, both at competitive levels and for K-12 students.

Sports bans require sex testing to enforce, and are privacy threats to all girls and women in sports. Strict “sex”-based sports policies encourage harassment, scrutiny of women’s and girls’ bodies, and invasive exams such as DNA tests that violate students’ privacy and dignity.

Read more stories from intersex athletes, fact sheets on Olympic competitions, and research on sex testing below.