Femininity tests in sport, a scientific aberration?

Decryption: French female boxers, having failed to obtain the results of their femininity tests in time, will not be able to compete in the World Championships in Liverpool, from September 4 to 14. However, these tests are strongly contested from a scientific point of view.

On the left, Romane Moulai, one of the French boxers excluded from the World Championships. BORISLAV ZDRINJA/BETAPHOT/SIPA

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French athletes confined to the locker room, for not having received the test in time to prove they are "real" women. This new case concerning femininity tests in sport reignites the debate on their very value. What is a woman? According to these tests, which detect the presence of the SRY gene—supposed to determine male biological sex—an athlete who does not possess this component of the "Y" sex chromosome can compete in women's championships.

These tests are increasingly required of athletes, without any harmonization. The IOC, for example, only looks at identity papers; while the international athletics federation World Athletics has made genetic tests mandatory from September ^1st . In France, they are…