A bizarre scandal involving the Iranian women's national soccer team has hit the newswires that involves gender questions. According to reports, four players on the team have been banned for failing gender tests.
The Telegraph reported that all Iranian soccer players will now be subject to mandatory, random gender tests after it came out four players on the national team weren't "fully female."
These players either were previously men undergoing sex changes that had yet to be completed or suffered from sexual development disorders. Complicating the issue are conflicting laws regarding sexuality and gender in Iran. Yahoo! Sports reports that sex changes tend to be a two-year process in Iran, and "are permitted under a fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979," but they run afoul of Sharia Law.
Three other players aside from the national team members were banned from competition, and the revelation has led to major changes in Iran's professional women's league. In addition to the newly mandatory tests, Ahmad Hashemian, head of the Iranian football federation's medical committee, said the clubs must conduct full examinations of the players and make sure they are women prior to signing them to deal.
Players who are not in compliance with the gender rules will be barred from competing "until they underwent medical treatment."
The news of players who are not "fully women" competing in a female league is shocking in itself, but especially in Iran where women are not even allowed to attend games between male sides.
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