Prof @AmherstCollege | Bylines: @nytimes @guardian @wired | Guggenheim fellow | Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography (Harvard U Press) |
Nov 16, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
VICTORY! The IOC just released a new framework for women's eligibility in sport marking the end of 5+ decades of Olympic sex testing. Shifting to a rights-based approach, there is much to applaud & work still left to do.... 1/x olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-r…
Some highlights from the 10 principles
1. Goodbye to testosterone thresholds. "No presumption of advantage" from T. Shifts the burden of proof from athletes to international federations (IFs) to prove a performance difference. Sets criteria for what counts as robust evidence.
Apr 15, 2021 • 19 tweets • 3 min read
I want to say something more about the science here as I am often asked about it. My quote is about 1 minute of a much broader convo so... Even in 2021, most researchers say there is not enough evidence to support these bills. 1/x washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04…
It's the same thing that happened at the elite level. First, they institute a regulation or ban and then look for studies to support it. This is a very nascent area of research and nothing is conclusive.
Feb 20, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
A journalist just asked if lowering T will definitively result in loss of muscle mass.
decreased muscle strength. T is related to these factors but it's not a simple dose response relationship where increase T and these factors increase and lower T and these factors decrease.
It depends on far too many factors. What is the level of testosterone that the person's body is used to? How much is it lowered and how? How does their individual body respond to the lowered level? How much is being converted to other hormones?
Feb 19, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Re Semenya case. T itself needs to be deposed. Ppl assume higher T-> better performance like a dose-response relationship. The science is far more complex & doesn't support these claims. T folklore lends a “truthiness” to arguments that would otherwise appear as mere contrivances
The ubiquitous & common-sense notion of T as a “super substance” substitutes for evidence, making calls for concrete, empirical details about what T actually does seem puzzling or obtuse.
Feb 19, 2019 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
So many mentions of testosterone as the male sex hormone related to Caster Semenya's case. It's inaccurate to call T the "male sex hormone." Here's why.
Calling T the male sex hormone signals that T is restricted to men and is a foreign--and potentially dangerous--substance in women’s bodies. But women also produce T and require it for healthy functioning.
