lirazel | Podcast Rec: Tested

Highly recommend this podcast from CBC and NPR about the history of women having to "prove" they're women to compete in sports. It's equal parts interesting and infuriating--actually, no, it's very interesting, but it's exponentially more infuriating. It balances the history with the current (earlier this year) stories of a few athletes who have to deal with this injustice. "Testing" for gender is a whack-a-mole game: every time people finally manage to put a stop to one unfair kind of testing, the establishment comes up with another one.

Warnings for the kinds of transphobia, misogyny (especially misogynoir) and persecution of intersex people you'd expect to find in this story. A lot of you will probably want to avoid it for that reason, and I respect that. Take care of yourself! But if you are up to wading through that, it will help you understand this narrative of "protecting" women's sports and how the current transphobic panic is nothing new.