Thread by @KirstiMiller30

What are the symptoms of androgen deficiency?
Adulthood• Mood changes (low mood and irritability)
• Poor concentration
• Low energy
• Reduced muscle strength
• Increased body fat
• Longer time to recover from exercise
• Decreased libido (low interest in sex)

• Difficulty getting and keeping erections
• Low semen volume
• Reduced beard or body hair growth
• Breast development (gynaecomastia)
• Hot flushes, sweats
• Osteoporosis (thinning of bones)
Later life (after 60 years)• Mood changes (low mood and irritability)

Nothing performance enhancing there (unlike what Tucker and crew advocate) In fact a male athlete who suffers from androgen deficiency is granted a TUE for T to allow this XY male to bring his T levels up to the same level as his same sex counterparts.

Beggs and Mossier and other XX trans men athletes their HRT regimes are a polar opposites to an  XY transitioning female and her HRT regime ie L Thomas. Where as Beggs and other transitioning males are given extremely powerful performance enhancing drugs those transitioning

from male to female are administered extremely powerful performance dehancing  medications the same drugs that are used to chemically castrate sex offenders the the same drugs that treat prostate cancer sufferers.

XY Transitioning females are lowering and eventually stopping permanently their production of testosterone eventually leaving an XY women in  complete androgen deprivation.

The IOC Transgender rules changed in 2015 to remove gender reassignment and this was replaced with the 10nmol/L policy. Progress was made to ensure that trans women are not subjected to the same "violations" Kristen Worley suffered.

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/tra…

Worley calls herself a survivor. She was the first transgender athlete to go through gender testing under the IOC's 2004 rules. Under those policies Worley says she was physically and psychologically violated.

crossingthelinesport.com/story/kristen-…

In the last 3 years Worley has been working with the IOC on better ways of supporting transgender athletes, backed by more rigorous science and research. The blanket T policies caused serious health and wellbeing consequences for TW in meeting the 10nmol anti-doping requirements.

It’s like taking the gas out of the car. When you lose testosterone in your physiology it’s like the car starts to shake when you take the petrol out of it. Certain functions of the body decrease or even stop functioning altogether.

The IOC in 2003 & 2015 were caught up with the social side of the debate over transgender athletes. And those sports blindly implementing blanket T policies such as @USASwimming are putting the long term health of XY trans women athletes at great risk to health & safety.

Everybody needs hormones, it’s just that we need different types of hormones depending on what chromosome type you are. And that's the problem, the IOC in the past & now @USASwimming tried to homogenise gender and they’ve tried to compare apples with oranges

The IOC thinking was and @USASwimming now is that "if you lower an athlete's testosterone levels (of someone) who was XY chromosome that somehow that is going to match somebody who is XX.

No, you're making that XY chromosome person completely unwell, long term in sport and to end of life, thinking that's going to somehow assimilate to somebody who is XX chromosome (who doesn't need testosterone to stay well).

The XX and XY physiologies utilise and synthesise androgens differently. You cannot compare the two.

In the XY karyotype, the endocrine system is driven by T, which is produced by the testicles. In the XX karyotype, it is driven by oestrogen and progesterone in addition to T. The XY endocrine system collapses without testosterone, whereas the XX endocrine system doesn’t.

Athletes like myself, Fox, Hubbard, Worley and McKinnon who have undergone Sex reassignment surgery. This involves the complete removal of the testicles (castration), the organ responsible for the primary production of testosterone in XY bodies.

Losing the ability to produce the body’s primary hormone results in a complete disruption of the endocrine system, disabling the brain’s ability to communicate with vital body organs and carry out vital internal communications that ensures many of the body’s glands and

organs work collectively and properly to ensure an athletes health, recovery and performance on the ‘field of play’. Removing testosterone from that system severs the links between those organs and glands, throwing the body into a state of complete androgen deprivation.

Androgen deprivation is an extremely dangerous medical condition, which is well medically researched. Its common symptoms include, but are not limited to, cessation of cell synthesis due to the removal of the organ which provides the primary stimulus for testosterone production;

loss of sexual and mental health; cardio vascular issues; respiratory and metabolic impact; joint instability; complete muscle atrophy; increased subcutaneous fat levels; accelerated bone loss; premature ageing; increased vulnerability to coronary heart disease and

joint injuries; elevated core body temperature during exercise; reduced stamina; fatigue; delayed recovery; and diabetes.

Not exactly how you want to be feeling heading into your first Olympics. Yet the IOC required transgender athletes to undergo this as a prerequisite for competing in female competition from 2003 until 2016 and 2021 for surgically transitioned athletes like Hubbard.

Outside of women’s sport androgen deprivation, which is unique to the XY karyotype and is known medically as hypogonadism, is treated with testosterone supplements and intervention to elevate blood levels to increase health and wellness.

But within the sporting structures governed by IOC policy, access to testosterone is heavily regulated. XY individuals need their testosterone levels to be T>14nmol/L or higher to be healthy.

Yet the IOC requires that XY females competing without a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) – like Laurel – to maintain testosterone levels at below 10nmol/L, where XY athletes who have undergone sex reassignment are at 0.5nmol/L, as the only remaining source for their

primary hormone, testosterone, is the adrenal glands. This process does take time. But Laurel Hubbard surgically transitioned in 2012. To be clear: because of the impact of transition on her physiology, she was at a distinct disadvantage to all her female competitors in Tokyo.

Laurel Hubbard was not at the Olympics because she was born in an XY body. Given the almost insurmountable bureaucratic barriers placed in her way, she was there despite that fact, & due to her raw determination & her love for her sport as an athlete.

omny.fm/shows/afternoo…

From personal experience, I can tell you that it is next to impossible to continue competing at the international level in most sports, let alone safely, while abiding by the 5 or 10nmol\L Policy – which has been abandoned by the IOC.

Other sports are still blindly using the old IOC blanket T policies. Beyond competing in sport, it is impossible to maintain your basic health as a transitioned XY female competitor without therapeutic support and the necessary infrastructure and understanding.

Multiple athletes have lost their careers to these blanket T policies. I know of close to two dozen voices.

Every athlete should be assured their optimal health, to ensure the best possible outcome on the ‘field of play’, while enjoying the life changing opportunity of becoming an Olympian in their sport.

And the idea that it has anything to do with ‘fairness’ is so tragic, because the IOC’s 2015 Policy around hormone levels in XY female athletes has never had scientific backing.

These incredibly harmful restrictions are completely arbitrary – something K Worley proved in court in 2016, where the IOC – on its own initiative – removed ‘sex reassignment’

from its Policy to answer a human rights question, recognising the catastrophic long-term impact on the XY physiology.

The IOC 2021 Gender Framework has made it possible to reimagine the design of sport with an emphasis on prevention, & athlete health wellbeing and safety. This reimagining would pre-empt the endless circular ‘debates’ about ‘fairness’ that dehumanise the very people that compete.

It may also elevate people to a better understanding of human diversity, which we should be cherishing for what their efforts and accomplishments teach us about being human. It would shift the focus to them as athletes and people.

The IOC has recognised that as a steward of sport, it must operate under the ‘do no harm’ principle. It must elevate sport and invest in communities, playing a modern role in health and wellbeing that extends beyond the field of elite sport.

Its 2015 IOC Policy regarding transgender athletes and other blanket T policies doesn’t fit this new perception.