Gender Testing in Sport ─ Ethics, Cases and Controversies

After the young South African athlete Caster Semenya won the 800m title at the 2009 World Championships she was obliged to undergo gender testing and was withdrawn, for a time, from international competition. Her case became a cause celebre and represents a rich, multi-layered example of the construction of gender in wider society and the interrelationships between sport, culture and the media. This is the first book to explore the case in depth, from socio-cultural, ethical and legal perspectives. Including discussion of key concepts such as ‘intersexuality’ and ‘fairness’, it is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport studies, gender studies or biomedical ethics.

Sandy Montanola is Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies at the University of Rennes 1, France. She teaches the analysis of discourse in a school of journalism (IUT Lannion) and is co-director of the Gender Group at the Research Center of the European Politic Action. Her research is focused on media coverage of gender in sports, and gender and sports’ discursive representations, including the Olympic Games, boxing and athletics. She is currently working on a project about sports journalists, and has a special interest in the connection between sports and media coverage from representation to gender of journalists including the analysis of reported speech.

Aurelie Olivesi is a Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Lyon 1 University, France. Her research fields are the analysis of media discourse (in printed press and internet forums) and the study of how gender in the political field is represented in the media. She has published a monograph about the 2007 French presidential election:Implicitement Sexiste? Genre, politique et discours journalistique. She has a special interest in the representation of gender perturbation in the media, like in the cases of the husbands of female politicians, and the lay discourse about gender issues published in the media.