Re: Re:
The definition of man and woman is a social construct and very hard to define when it comes to sport.
I rather think, technically speaking, man (andro) and woman (gyno) defined is firstly biological (unless men were to start being born with a uterus),* and secondly a gender (identification with either sex from the cultural not biological point of view) social construct. So I suppose the relevant issue to the discussion at hand is: does the categorization of sport hinge on biologically or socially defined parameters? If the former, then no, transgender women have no place in competition with biological women. By contrast, if it is the latter then the term "woman" is a culturally formed, self-defined identity (in this case enhanced with surgical and hormonal treatment), independent of sex, belonging to all who claim membership to the category and, consequently, transgender women should be allowed to compete with biological women.
As to the issue of being able to define biological sex at all?** Clearly we can, it does exist, the extremely rare instances when nature has deviated from the norm notwithstanding. Such cases are defined as "intersexual," but their existance in no way invalidates the definition of sex for those born into a specific condition of the overwhelming majority of humans. We could not have arrived at the exorbitant global population had it been otherwise. Lastly, and with all due respect, surgical and hormonal alterations do not convert the biological status. So, again, as to the original premise, it depends on how you establish the criteria for categorization. If sex, no, gender, yes
* A woman born without a uterus is a rare genetic deficiency, not a change in sex.
** And if the Gaurdian article (posted by MacBindle upthread) regarding what science says about biological sex has any merit, then we should do away with binary categorization in sport altogether, as there would be no natural basis for sex segregated competition.
Post Scriptum: Because I am a considerate person, not wanting to offend anyone, naturally I address a transgender woman as "she," but in reference to her gender, not sex.[/I][/I]