„For transgendered individuals to participate, the Stockholm Consensus has several requirements. First, they must have undergone sex-reassignment surgery that alters external genitalia. The second mandate requires that transsexual participants have received legal recognition of their assigned sex by “appropriate official authorities” in their home country. In addition, according to the medical commission, transsexual athletes must administer hormone therapy “appropriate for the assigned sex… in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimize gender-related advantages in competitive sport competitions.” Finally, the Stockholm Consensus stipulates that each transsexual athlete undergo individual investigation prior to competition.
There are problems with this approach. For one thing, the status of genitals holds no significance in sports other than for categorization purposes. The Stockholm Consensus maintains a Western, elite bias and discriminates against individuals from poorer, less-industrialized nations. Sex-reassignment is expensive, which means it is available only to affluent athletes. Several countries do not even have the medical care necessary for performing sex-reassignment operations, and, in any case, surgery for female-to-male transsexuals has yet to be perfected. As a result, for many, surgery remains impossible or undesirable.
The requirement that the individual is getting “appropriate” hormones is difficult because no single standard exists. And because transsexual athletes require hormone treatment, people conflate this treatment with doping, further stigmatizing transsexual athletes. In addition, the strict medical criteria excludes intersexed participants completely.
Recognition by “appropriate official authorities” proves similarly challenging. Transsexuals outside of the U.S. and Europe have problems in attempting to change their legal status. Even in the U.S., gender recognition varies state-by-state.“
frauenrugby 