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Lindsay Parks Pieper Dissertation.pdf (1.2 MB)

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Policing Womanhood: The International Olympic Committee, Sex Testing and the Maintenance of Hetero-Femininity in Sport

Pieper, Lindsay Parks
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366280376

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services.
This project assesses the significance of Olympic sex testing/gender verification. From 1968 to 1998, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) required sex/gender checks on all female participants, consequently defining and controlling womanhood. In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the IOC Medical Commission instituted the first compulsory test of the modern Olympic Movement. The procedure intended to guarantee the authenticity of Olympic competitors and unmask male masqueraders, as well as to scientifically confirm the separation of men and women in sport. Over the next three decades, the IOC authorized a policy of sex/gender conformity, which consequently outlined a specific category of woman for sport. Thus Olympic womanhood—dependent on a belief in natural, dichotomous sex/gender difference—required female athletes to conform to conventional notions of white hetero-femininity. Through these regulations, the IOC, a powerful and influential authority, has continuously reaffirmed a binary notion of sex, privileged white gender norms, re-inscribed a dichotomous paradigm of sexuality and hampered female athleticism. Although protests from the medical community and the Athletes Commission eventually coerced the IOC to abandon compulsory verification in 1999, officials failed to relinquish complete control of Olympic womanhood. The IOC maintained its authority of sex/gender through anti-doping techniques, suspicion-based testing and transgender regulations.
Sarah Fields, PhD (Advisor)
Brian Turner, PhD (Committee Member)
Judy Wu, PhD (Committee Member)
239 p.
Gender; History; Sports Management; Womens Studies
International Olympic Committee; Gender Verification; Hetero-Femininity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pieper, L. P. (2013). Policing Womanhood: The International Olympic Committee, Sex Testing and the Maintenance of Hetero-Femininity in Sport [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366280376

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pieper, Lindsay. Policing Womanhood: The International Olympic Committee, Sex Testing and the Maintenance of Hetero-Femininity in Sport. 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366280376.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pieper, Lindsay. "Policing Womanhood: The International Olympic Committee, Sex Testing and the Maintenance of Hetero-Femininity in Sport." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366280376

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1366280376
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.