Sex, Drugs and Athletics: Should female athletes like Caster Semenya be required to take drugs to lower their performance levels?

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 […]

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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 […]

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Disability, sexual rights and sexual duties: still puzzling after all this time?

By Ezio Di Nucci Steven J. Firth and Ivars Neiders (thanks! our little debate is ‘fun’ and, as you say, extremely important) have responded to my defense of the sexual rights puzzle according to which ‘universal positive sexual rights are incompatible with universal negative sexual rights’ by arguing that: There is a difference between ‘positive rights […]

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Sexual rights as healthcare rights?

By Ezio Di Nucci Thanks to Steven J. Firth and Ivars Neiders for continuing to engage with my ‘absurd’ sexual rights puzzle, according to which ‘universal positive sexual rights are incompatible with universal negative sexual rights’. In this short post I will address their proposed solution to the puzzle, which consists in normalizing sexual rights […]

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