Semantics of the gendered body at the IOC’s Medical Commission between 1967 and 1972
This thesis focuses on gender testing in high-level sport. More specifically, those conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I begin with a historical contextualization of the various classifications of the body biomedical and social sciences have put forward. Then, through a content analysis of the minutes, correspondences, and studies read by the Medical Commission between 1967 and 1972, I highlight six categories of discourse on the body. These are divided into two types of categories: first the ways in which the body and sex differences are talked about; then, the relationship between the body and the members of the Medical Commission. The three types of discourses relating to the body are: “the polymorphic nature of the body", "the body as dimorphic", and "the abnormal body". Discourses on the relationship between the abnormal body are: "the body as scientific object", “the body as abstract category”, and "the body as an object of ethical concern".
CIO Gender-testing IOC Sport Gender Sex Body Women athletes Olympics Feminist epistemology Content analysis Sportives Genre