| Summary: | Nowhere does a person's gender have more far-reaching and public impact than in the sphere of international sports competition. For twenty-five years the International Olympic Committee has required sportswomen to pass a genetic sex test for gender before they are eligible for competition. This is done to insure that men or 'in betweens' with a masculine advantage are not unfairly competing in the women's events. The so-called gender verification test has been denounced by scientists as inaccurate and unjust. Far from insuring equal competition, the test has left a trail of shattered sports careers and ruined lives for the unfortunate athletes who really were women but 'failed.' Sex Games includes the testimony of a hurdler who fought three years to be reinstated; an American swimmer who was the victim of a lab error; and an athlete who bears the emotional scars of being told she was not a real woman.
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