Iran Will Subject Female Soccer Players to Random Gender Tests

On February 3, the governing body for soccer in Iran—Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI)—declared that it would implement gender-verification procedures in the women’s league. To enforce compliance, the federation plans to send medical personnel to clubs at random.

Not long before FFIRI’s announcement, seven soccer players—four of them on the national team—had had their contracts terminated after it was revealed that they were either “men who had not completed sex change operations” or were individuals “suffering from sexual development disorders.” This phrasing comes from Robert Tait, who reported the story for the Telegraph four days later. Because words like sex change, gender tests, andIran are click-bait on their own (cough), it was only a matter of time before a story containing all three was picked up by international and American press. Even right-wing media reported on it (their coverage was as classy as expected).

Three years ago, supposedly after a goalie was accused of being a man, FFIRI specified that clubs had to verify the gender of female athletes when signing them. Yet enforcement of these rules seems to have been lax, and athletes who didn’t meet FFIRI’s standards were allowed to advance in the league. To say that it was simply because they were trans or intersex, as reports imply, misses what’s going on. It’s a bit more complicated.

Gender verification in women’s sports dates back to the 60s. Back then, athletes from the USSR were accused of being male agents sent to dominate the sport. To maintain the integrity of the game, soccer officials began implementing random gender tests to root out any impostors.

Yet there’s been no confirmed case of this happening. Ever. What investigators found instead of men masquerading as women was a host of athletes with various intersex conditions. Even one of the main accusers was herself discovered to be intersex.

Initially, these athletes were summarily disqualified. But the approach began to change as scientists realized that being intersex didn’t necessarily give someone an unfair advantage on the field.

This meant that the policy shifted from expelling athletes to treating what unfair advantages they had and letting them compete (Ahmed Hashemian, head of FFIRI’s medical committee, expressed his hope to have the athletes return after treatment).

FIFA, which the FFIRI falls under, adopted its own policy three years ago, amid, you guessed it, accusations that some of its football players were actually men. The organization convenes a panel consisting of an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, and a genetics expert who verify gender on a case-by-case basis. While FIFA is barred from administering random tests directly, it gives leeway to member organizations to verify players themselves. (FIFA was not involved in these recent tests.)

The number-one priority should be protecting the medical privacy of its athletes. Many intersex athletes don’t know about their condition, and finding out in such a public manner can be devastating.  Considering the way this story’s been covered, it’s a valid concern.

When it comes to treatment, the standard procedure is to reduce testosterone levels, in the long term, to female ranges. Scientifically, this is the determining factor between male and female performance. Think steroids. In practical terms, this means that intersex athletes are allowed to compete after having a gonadectomy and two subsequent years of hormone therapy.

This applies to trans women as well. While Fallon Fox still riles up stateside debate, the international consensus has, by and large, been settled. The IOC adopted this standard in 2004, and other organizations, including FIFA, have followed suit. The difference is that, for trans women, the treatment is generally covered by chemical transition and sex-reassignment surgery.

Which brings us to Iran. Iran has allowed transition for more than 30 years now and has comparatively been an enthusiastic supporter of it, providing state funds for SRS and a change of documentation in conjunction with the surgery. The documentary Be Like Others, about the process, showed it wasn’t uncommon for women to get SRS—and the legal name change—before starting hormone therapy. This would leave a potential athlete under two sets of standards, the state’s and FFIRI’s.

If and when these soccer players return, they wouldn’t be the first out trans athletes to compete in FIFA. That honor goes to Jaiyah Saelua, who played for American Samoa in their upset against Brazil in December 2011.

Because she hadn’t undergone medical transition, she competed on the men’s squad.