All Articles by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Ph.D.

The new International Olympic Committee guidelines for transgender athletes’ eligibility to compete in the Olympics have been hailed as bringing the IOC into the modern world, but the applause for the IOC may be premature says one international expert in sex, gender, and sport.

The decision by the International Court for Arbitration in Sport to reinstate Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, who had been banned in 2014 by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from competing against women because she was found to have levels of testosterone considered too high for a female was as surprising as it was it was enlightened, says an international expert on gender, sexuality, and sport.

For the second time in five years, a non-western female sprinter in her teens has been targeted by the two major international sports governing bodies, subjected to invasive medical and media scrutiny, and found to be too "masculine" to qualify as a woman in sporting competition.

In her new book, Sexual Diversity and the Sochi 2014 Olympics: No More Rainbows, Helen Jefferson Lenskyj examines Russia's 2013 anti-gay laws, their implications for the Sochi 2014 Olympics, and world responses to calls for a boycott.

In the last few weeks, three events have brought sex and sport to the forefront of public and media attention again, but, this time, two of the three stories have been positive, one even prompting President Obama to issue a statement of support.

Nike's latest edgy ad in which Tiger Woods claims that, "Winning takes care of everything," has evoked a wide range of responses in the media, and, one might hope, around the family dinner table. After all, why miss a teachable moment when you're a parent of a young athlete? But what exactly is Nike's message, wonders one commentator on sports and society.

Despite progress in women's and LGBT rights, the way the mainstream media portrays non-conforming or sexually ambiguous athletes has not changed much in three decades, argues a leading expert on gender in sport, citing the treatment of Olympic athletes Caster Semenya (left) and Johnnie Weir.