Author to discuss 'sex testing' of athletes

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Feb. 11, 2016) A Stanford University researcher will discuss the ethics of testing athletes to determine their sex on March 2 at California Lutheran University.

“An Evening With the Author: Katrina Karkazis” begins with an opportunity to meet the researcher and have her sign books from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Pearson Library lobby on the Thousand Oaks campus. She will give a lecture from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Lundring Events Center.

Karkazis, a senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Ethics and the author of the 2008 book “Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience,” will particularly focus on the ethics of “sex testing” Olympic athletes in her presentation.

Her work challenges entrenched scientific and medical beliefs about gender, sexuality and the body in an effort to promote social justice. Her current research, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Brocher Foundation, challenges sex-testing policies aimed at elite female athletes.

In 2015, Karkazis helped Indian sprinter Dutee Chand to mount a successful appeal against track-and-field sex-testing regulations at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and served as an expert witness at the hearing. The International Association of Athletics Federations had barred Chand from competing against women in 2014 because her natural levels of testosterone exceeded guidelines for female athletes. The case was one more demonstration that sex lies on a spectrum, rather than being something easily determined along scientific lines.

Karkazis’ research has been covered by The New York Times, Time, BuzzFeed, The Week, CNN, ESPN, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Jezebel, Slate, The Advocate, La Liberation, The Chronicle of Higher Education, San Jose Mercury News, Science, The American Journal of Bioethics and the Toronto Star. She has appeared on The World, BBC, CBS News, NBC News, KCBS, CTV News, Q Radio, Al Jazeera and the Australian Broadcasting Corp., among others.

Cal Lutheran’s Pearson Library, Center for Equality and Justice, and Multicultural Programs and International Student Services are sponsoring the free event.

Pearson Library is located at 135 Chapel Lane and Lundring Events Center is inside the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is located on the north side of Olsen Road between Campus Road and Mountclef Boulevard.  

For more information, contact Rebecca Mendelson at 805-493-3120 or rmendelson@callutheran.edu.