Swedish football player Nilla Fischer has revealed that the women’s national team were forced to strip and ‘show their genitalia’ for doctors to prove they were female at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany.
‘We were told that we should not shave ”down there” in the coming days and that we will show our genitalia for the doctor,’ Fischer wrote in her new book ‘I Didn’t Even Say Half Of It’.
‘No one understands the thing about shaving but we do as we are told and think ”how did it get to this?” Should we refuse? ‘At the same time no one wants to jeopardise the opportunity to play at a World Cup. We just have to get the shit done no matter how sick and humiliating it feels.’
The Swedish centre-back opened up further on the experience in an interview with Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper.
‘I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down my training pants and underwear at the same time,’ she said.
‘The physio nods and says ”yup” and then looks out at the doctor who is standing with his back to my doorway. When everyone on our team is checked, that is to say, has exposed their vagina, our team doctor can sign that the Swedish women’s national football team consists only of women.’
Two weeks before the tournament got underway in Germany, FIFA released its updated gender recognition policies which remain in place today. The rules require that teams sign a declaration stating that all players involved in the tournament are of ‘the appropriate gender’.
Inspections were enforced when Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African teams protested over speculation that some of the players fielded by Equatorial Guinea may have been male.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
