Via Sex Matters, I learn that the IOC has a Portrayal Guideline [pdf] so I hasten to read it.

It is, of course, a sour joke.

The Introduction starts with:

Sport is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls, and sports coverage is very influential in shaping gender norms and stereotypes.

So…that’s why they insist that some men are women. Okaaaaaay…

The two weeks of Olympic coverage are a rare time when women’s sports and sportswomen – irrespective
of nation, race, religion, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status – are likely to make the headlines. But outside that period, both the quantity and quality of women’s sports coverage remain inconsistent and limited in comparison to that of men.
Sport has the power to shift how women in all their diversity are seen and how they see themselves.

And by “in all their diversity” we mean “including men.”

Women, like men, are not a homogenous group, nor are they solely defined by their gender identity. Indeed, women are as different from each other as they are from men. All individuals have multiple intersecting dimensions that shape their experiences of sport. Other social markers of difference such as race, class, ethnicity, religion, nationality, culture or sexual orientation (to list but a few) inform a person’s identity. Balanced portrayal practices should ensure that the diversity within and among different groups are both considered and reflected. After all, not all sportspeople look or sound the same, nor do they experience life exclusively in terms of their gender identity

Is this the Olympics, or the sociology department at Goldsmith’s? What on earth makes the IOC think we need a stupid confused patronizing lecture of this kind? “Women are more than just women yaknow” – gosh you don’t say.

There’s lots more. Not recommended.