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No, they are not transgender, anyone talking about that is doing it from a culture war point of view, but the same arguments are relevant.

Essentially, what do we consider women’s sport to be? It’s an entirely arbitrary construct to ensure women can compete against one another. A better way to consider sport should be to define women’s sports and then everyone else is in an “Open” category. No men’s sports.

Caster Semenya is the most high profile case of DSD (difference of sexual development). She has 5aR2D, which affect genetic males only. She went through male puberty with the associated production of testosterone which enabled her to develop muscles far superior to any non-DSD female athlete. In 2016, the Olympics podium was made up of exclusively DSD athletes which led to Lynsey Sharp’s emotional interview at the end of the race where she admitted the rest of them were just running for 4th. Given the world records for men and women are 13 seconds apart there is a lot of space for DSD athletes to have an advantage.

It is not their fault at all, but the educated conversation is more about how to properly protect the rest of the field in women’s sports rather than any trans culture wars.