Thread by @KirstiMiller30

In very simple terms for Nancy somebody who receives exogenous testosterone is getting a boost, because their body is processing and benefitting from extra testosterone that their body didn’t produce. This is understood to be why it is effective as a doping agent.

https://twitter.com/hogshead3au/status/1501719550831775744

Whether one can compare the performance of an athlete who has been given exogenous testosterone to take them up to the equivalent testosterone levels of an athlete with high endogenous testosterone remains to be seen.

Such a comparison is potentially problematic, because the athlete given exogenous testosterone is getting a boost, whereas the athlete with high endogenous testosterone is not. High levels of endogenous testosterone are what their physiology is accustomed to.

Androgens such as testosterone are understood to the primary driver for protein cell synthesis in the XY phenotype. In the XX phenotype, the equivalent primary driver is understood to be growth hormone, produced in the liver.

Protein cell synthesis is understood to be the process whereby the human body produces new red blood cells, muscles and ligament tissue.

As testosterone is the primary driver for protein cell synthesis in the XY phenotype, it is understood that somewhere between six and ten times the amount of testosterone is required by the XY phenotype compared to the XX phenotype to enable this process.

If you reduce endogenous T to below what an athlete is accustomed to, there is a concern that protein cell synthesis could be affected. In some phenotypes, this affect can be more pronounced than others.

Transgender female athletes

The Oxford Dictionary refers to a transgender person ‘whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex’. This definition encompasses both pre-operation and post-operation trans people.

https://twitter.com/KirstiMiller30/status/1292371724130869248?s=20&t=cHI45Glpl1vFkgdPXx6fpQ