“Any woman who is too good, too strong, or doesn’t look feminine enough will be subject to scrutiny and suspicion.”

Caster Semenya isn’t transgender. However, trans athletes worry that a recent case mandating the middle-distance runner lower her testosterone levels could impact the ability of trans women to compete in professional sports—or any other athlete who doesn’t fit a narrow definition of womanhood.

On Wednesday, the Olympic gold medalist lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) challenging guidelines from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) limiting the hormone levels of athletes. Semenya is hyperandrogenic, which means that she produces higher levels of testosterone than many of her competitors. Critics say the condition, which affects an estimated 5-10% percent of the female population, gives her an “unfair” advantage in the sport.

In 2018, the IAAF—the worldwide governing body for track and field—instituted policies forcing athletes like Semenya to lower their natural testosterone below five nanomoles per liter of blood for at least six months before they’re able to compete. These replaced earlier guidelines which were successfully challenged by Indian sprinter Dutee Chand three years earlier.

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While the CAS admitted the policies are discriminatory, the tribunal sometimes referred to as “sport’s supreme court” claimed that “such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF’s aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics in the Restricted Events.”

This week’s ruling practically registered on the Richter scale following months of debate over the participation of transgender people in professional and even high school athletic associations. South Dakota lawmakers introduced four bills that would restrict the ability of trans student athletes to compete in accordance with their gender identity. While Montana debated legislation to update its human rights act to include LGBTQ people as a protected class, a Montana Family Foundation lobbyist read an op-ed from tennis legend Martina Navratilova calling transgender athletes “cheats.”

While the IAAF ruling doesn’t mention transgender athletes, professional athlete and trans advocate Chris Mosier says the decision “sets a dangerous precedent” for any person—trans or cis—who competes at an elite level.

“It’s going to open the doors for discrimination for all athletes, mostly on gender presentation,” he tells NewNowNext. “Caster Semenya was targeted because of her more masculine appearance. It’s dangerous for any person who identifies as a woman who [may become] the target of discrimination.”

Restricting the hormones of athletes will have an immediate impact on trans women, as the new regulation cuts the previously allowed testosterone levels in half. But opponents of the IAAF policy say it could also lead to greater policing of intersex athletes and women of color who compete in sports. Tennis player Serena Williams, who is cisgender, has long fended off criticisms that her muscular physique makes her “manly.” Guidelines like those defended by the CAS essentially feed Williams’ trolls.

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“It is not a coincidence that the people who are typically thought as ‘insufficiently feminine’ are women of color and particularly black women,” cyclist Rachel McKinnon tells NewNowNext. “Any woman who is too good, too strong, or doesn’t look feminine enough will be subject to scrutiny and suspicion.”

Trans athletes understand what it means to have their bodies up for public debate. After McKinnon became the first transgender woman to win a world cycling competition in October 2018, Jen Wagner-Assali—who finished in third place in the UCI Masters Track World Championship—tweeted that McKinnon’s victory was “not fair.” While Wagner-Assali later apologized, the comments were quickly picked up by right-wing outlets like Breitbart, The Daily Caller, InfoWars, and Fox News, many of which referred to McKinnon as a “biological male.”

The influx of attention brought with it petitions to USA Cycling calling to ban McKinnon from competing in future events. By the time McKinnon was mentioned by name in Navratilova’s now-infamous op-ed, she admits that she was used to the criticism, saying she “had a lot of practice.”

Nonetheless, the continued backlash she faces just for doing what she loves—and doing it well—has taken a toll on McKinnon’s mental health.

“The harassment and discrimination have caused me to develop PTSD and anxiety disorders,” she says. “Just being in competitive spaces at all is extremely stressful to the point that it affects my performance. In competitions, I have to try to surround myself with supportive people. I have to completely turn off notifications from social media.”

While McKinnon still continues to compete in women’s cycling, others have dropped out entirely because of the ways in which their bodies were put under a magnifying glass.

“Once we start to try and define what qualifies as a cis woman and what’s not ‘cis enough,’ it’s a slippery slope,” former collegiate volleyball player Chloe Johnson tells NewNowNext. “As a trans woman, there’s already a lot more motive to try and police [us] because there’s a lot of fear about what our bodies do.”

After competing in a few preseason games with Santa Ana College’s volleyball team in 2014, Johnson says she was approached by the school’s athletic director. He informed her there had been questions about her gender identity and she would be suspended from participation until further notice. Johnson fought the decision and won, citing a 2013 law passed in California allowing trans students to compete in school athletics in a manner consistent with their lived gender. After her reinstatement, she describes the remainder of her experience at the community college as “positive.”

But when she transferred to the University of California, Santa Cruz to finish her studies, Johnson claims she was emotionally abused by her volleyball coach and isolated from her teammates. Posters displayed around the campus of the team, for instance, inexplicably didn’t include her. Experiencing extreme suicidal ideation, Johnson eventually dropped out of school. She hasn’t competed in volleyball since, and for a while, even the thought gave her severe panic attacks.

“I blamed myself for these last two-and-a-half years because I thought I was never good enough and that I will never be good enough,” she tells NewNowNext, noting the coach was later fired for misconduct. “No matter how hard I tried, it would never matter. All the spunk and fire that I had got drained from one person and one bad coach.”

Critics of the CAS decision say the decision will serve to effectively force out other athletes—whether trans or not. Although there was speculation Semenya would begin competing in 1,500-meter and one-mile races, which were not impacted by the athletics court’s ruling, the IAAF has already hinted at plans to apply the verdict as broadly as possible. At a Thursday press conference in Qatar, IAAF President Sebastian Coe all but confirmed the testosterone limits will be implemented for all races.

While Semenya has not stated whether she plans to appeal the CAS ruling, a cryptic meme posted to her Twitter account on Thursday suggested she may be considering early retirement. “Knowing when to walk away is wisdom,” reads a photo of a hand resting against barbed wire. “Being able to is courage. Walking away with your head held high is dignity.”

Semenya has been one of the most dominant runners of the past decade, winning gold in the 800-meter race at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Many say losing someone of her caliber would be a loss for the entire sporting world.

“In sports, we celebrate exceptional men—Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and other people who have massive biological advantages over their competition—but we are suspicious and scrutinize exceptional women, whether they’re cis, trans, or intersex,” McKinnon claims. “And then we create policies to try to exclude them.”