By Sebastian Jon Holmen, Thomas Søbirk Petersen and Jesper Ryberg The South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya, former winner of two Olympic gold medals, recently participated in the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Semenya was permitted to run in the women’s 5,000m competition, where she did not qualify for the final. However, she was not allowed […]
Category: Gender
Modern healthcare and trusting LGBT testimony
By Maura Priest Historically speaking, medical experts have dismissed, downplayed, and doubted, LGBT testimony. Along these lines, it was just a short time ago that the medical community understood LGBT identities as illnesses to be treated and cured. While both societal acceptance of the LGBT community, and also LGBT healthcare, have improved over time, even […]
Should trans girl Ellie Anderson be allowed to have children posthumously?
By Joona Räsänen Ellie Anderson died at the age of 16. Ellie’s unexpected death left her mother, Louise, grappling not only with the grief of losing her child but with a complex problem. Ellie wanted to have children – there is nothing unusual in such a desire. However, Ellie’s case is challenging in many ways. […]
Is a Minor’s Decision to Take Puberty-Blockers Exceptional?
By Shannon Fyfe and Elizabeth Lanphier In a recent decision from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, three judges ruled that young people under the age of 16 may only consent to the use of medication intended to suppress puberty (PBTs) if they are competent to understand the nature of the […]
Are the IAAF rules on women’s eligibility in middle distance running unethical?
By Sigmund Loland According to the Differences of Sex Development (DSD) Regulations of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), athletes with heightened testosterone levels are considered non-eligible in women’s middle distance running races. The case is contested by athletes, scientists, and bioethicists. In 2019, World and Olympic Champion South African middle distance runner Caster […]
Ongoing puberty suppression should be an available treatment option for non-binary adults, but case-by-case analysis is also needed
By Lauren Notini The use of medications to suppress puberty (puberty suppression or puberty blockers) in young people who identify as transgender (trans) or gender diverse (TGD) has generated ongoing debate in the media and bioethics literature. Puberty blockers are typically recommended as a treatment option for TGD young people who are experiencing gender dysphoria […]
The COVID19 pandemic and ethics through the eyes of women
By Pauline Capdevielle, Amaranta Manrique de Lara, María de Jesús Medina Arellano This year’s International Women’s Day was a historic occurrence in Mexico. Tens of thousands of women took to the streets on the eighth and then chose to vanish on the ninth. Each day in its own way, the so-called 8M and 9M were […]
Capacity-based decision-making for transgender adolescents
By Timothy F. Murphy This post is part of a series on ethical and legal perspectives in sexual and reproductive health first posted on the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health blog. Readers may be interested in the companion piece ‘Transgender children: limits on consent to permanent interventions’ by Heather Brunskell-Evans. Academics, clinicians, and trans people have focused […]
Transgender children: limits on consent to permanent interventions
By Heather Brunskell-Evans This post is part of a series on ethical and legal perspectives in sexual and reproductive health first posted on the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health blog. Be sure to check out the companion piece ‘Capacity-based decision-making for transgender adolescents’ by Timothy F. Murphy. When we talk about ‘transgender children’, we are referring […]