Sports need to move beyond policing biologically natural bodies and the resultant exceptional scrutiny of extraordinary women. ImageImageImage
Current science suggests that any advantage that might be conferred by elevated T levels is so complex that testosterone levels alone are a nearly useless indicator of advantage, and certainly not an appropriate measure for determining eligibility.
Unlike doping, elevated endogenous hormones are not external to the athlete’s body and are not added intentionally to confer advantage over competitors (i.e., cheating).
Even if some sort of evaluation were available that could decisively link endogenous testosterone levels to sporting ability (the traits of which would vary considerably by sport as well),
endogenous testosterone should be viewed as no different from other biological advantages derived from exceptional biological variation.
Numerous biological advantages that everyone accepts are frequently found in groups of elite athletes. Several runners and cyclists have rare mitochondrial variations that give them extraordinary aerobic capacity and exceptional resistance against fatigue.
Basketball players who have acromegaly, a hormonal condition that results in exceptionally large hands and feet, are not banned from competition.
Perfect vision exists among baseball players at a significantly higher rate than in the general population.
Many have also speculated that Michael Phelps, the record-breaking Olympian swimmer, has Marfan’s syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that results in exceptionally long limbs and flexible joints that help to make him an exceptional swimmer.
Some elite athletes have variations in the ACE gene (which affects muscle growth and efficiency) and in the NOS gene (which affects blood flow to skeletal muscles).
Elite athletes thus already display myriad types of biological and genetic advantages. Endogenous testosterone is a naturally occurring phenomenon and therefore no different than any other exceptional biological variation in the human body.
In sum, there is a great deal of mythology about the physical effects of testosterone and other androgens.
Optimal levels of testosterone is one of many factors that is necessary for athletes to achieve their own “personal best,” but comparing testosterone levels across individuals is not of any apparent scientific value.

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More from @KirstiMiller30

7 Nov
In a town like Wilcannia instead of the govt paying a private mob 11k per yr for an indue card & 15k to a private employment service agency to keep an unemployed person in Wilcannia on a WFD activity. How about the govt train & employ these people as age & disability carers.
In Australia,life expectancy for men is 79yrs.Unless you are from Wilcannia in far western NSW, where life expectancy for men is 36.7 yrs & women 42.5 yrs.
Wilcannia personifies government funding priorities across Aust that have effectively criminalised the consequences of marginalisation &failed to address the causes of offending.
Read 16 tweets
7 Nov
I managed 5 prisons and not one of them worked. We need a government that will reinvestment Justice funds back into the communities where the majority of inmates come from & return to. We need to address disadvantage this is the key and has been known for over 30 years.
Governments continue to lavish resources on incarceration despite empirical research that re-offending is better addressed by rehabilitation programs, education and vocational training, stable housing, and employment.
The 1987-91 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody reported that: “The single significant contributing factor to incarceration is the disadvantaged and unequal position of Aboriginal people in Australian society in every way”.
Read 4 tweets
5 Nov
Optimal levels of testosterone is one of many factors that is necessary for both male and female athletes to achieve their own “personal best,” but comparing testosterone levels across individuals is not of any apparent scientific value. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Individuals have dramatically different responses to the same amounts of testosterone, and testosterone is just one element in a complex neuroendocrine feedback system, which is just as likely to be affected by as to affect athletic performance.
Testosterone is far from the decisive factor in athleticism. The most dramatic example is women with CAIS, whose tissues are completely unresponsive to testosterone but who are overrepresented among elite athletes.
Read 10 tweets
27 Oct
In the last 14 years despite a significant drop in crime rates, Australian states and territories have locked people up at a rate not seen since the 1890s.
Many are locked up for “crimes” we never used to imprison people for, like traffic violations and low-level drug offences. This has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with winning votes by seeming “tough on crime”.
The 43,000 plus people locked up in our prisons in Australia are a transitory population. Over a third are serving a short sentence of less than 2 years. For females the average is just a few months. More than half of all prisoners are released into homelessness.
Read 16 tweets
24 Oct
Populists are capable of being defeated, but only under one condition: a unified opposition.
Whether protests can bring about real political change in 🇦🇺 remains to be seen, Image
but civil  movements such as the GLBTIQ, BLM, Climate Change, March For Justice, feminism etc can unite opposition forces against populist leaders like Morrison & his increasingly authoritarian government. ImageImageImageImage
It was the mass street protests following the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak that propelled Caputova to power.
nytimes.com/2018/02/28/wor…
Read 18 tweets
7 Oct
What Is Chemical Castration?

Chemical castration is the use of drugs to lower the production of hormones in your testicles.
Doctors use this method to treat hormone-related cancers, such as prostate cancer or for XY pre operative transgender women. Other names for chemical castration are:
hormone therapy,
androgen suppression therapy,
androgen depressive therapy.
Let’s take a closer look at how chemical castration works, what the long-term risks are, and if it can be reversed.
Read 36 tweets

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