When Dutee Chand was disqualified for the Commonwealth Games, she challenged the decision and in doing so might have changed a few things about the mortifying practice of sex verification in sports faced by sportswomen. Chand's might have been among the more controversial cases, but it was not the first, nor the only one.
Another athlete who had to endure this trauma is Shanthi Soundarajan.
In a video by Thappad, Soundarajan tells us the humiliating and unfair way it all played out. As The New York Times Magazine explains, "To evaluate the effects of high testosterone, the international athletic association's protocol involves measuring and palpating the clitoris, vagina and labia, as well as evaluating breast size and pubic hair scored on an illustrated five-grade scale." What the sex verification test then does is to check if a sportswoman is eligible to compete in a single sex category. It is generally perceived that a high level of testosterone gives female sportspersons an advantage like a man's physique has over a woman's.
Watch what Shanthi Soundarajan has to say about sex verification in this video by Thappad.