China's Olympic-Sized Sex and Gender Problems: Violet Blue writes for SFPost
by Alyssa | August 4, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Hello Everyone!
I have been privileged over the past month to watch the tiny seed of an e mag grow and prosper in the hands of the wonderful women and men of World Pulse. A big part of my job has been keeping my eyes open for articles to post on the website. As you can imagine, the majority of articles I read about China have so many fingers pointing they almost poke you in the eye. Human rights abuses, low environmental standards, no free press...poke, poke, poke.
One article that particularly drew my attention was sex blogger Violet Blue's article in San Francisco Gate concerning sex testing of Olympic Athletes. The Times has also written about this. Originally began in the 1960s when Russian and German female athletes were under suspicion of gender fraud, the International Olympic Committee has since forgone the practice, although China hasn't.
Violet makes the succinct point "...when a segment of the population is being singled out and rounded up for invisible crimes of genetics — not talking about steroids here — it sours the fairness of a spectacle that is supposed to be a gathering of nations on equal ground. Something our world needs very badly right now."
There is a possibility for open ground between citizens if not between the bureaucracy of nations. What do you all think about this? I would like to know more about why only female athletes are being singled out - is there a Chinese cultural precedent for this? Is there any protest against this in China?
Thanks!
Alyssa
