Some cause campaigns only have to show how things really are to be so powerful and so emotive that they make the viewer squirm. It’s true that there are very many of these in the world. But there has never been one like this. The campaign’s hero film, #LetHerRun by ad agency, Africa, shows what a female athlete has had to go through to prove that she was a woman.

The film is a re-enactment of the 1960s procedure inflicted on female athletes to prove they were women. The method has changed, but some athletes still have to prove that they are women to be allowed to compete. World Athletics still demands proof of biological sex from female athletes. Men do not have to prove that they are men.

#LetHerRun aims at pressuring World Athletics in the face of the unequal treatment, calling for a counter-decision on the banning of athletes.

A group of female athletes has been banned from participating in official sports competitions because they have above average natural testosterone levels. It is considered by some as a sign of intolerance, prejudice and lack of empathy. The standard has prematurely ended the career of dozens of athletes and threatens the journey of several world class runners including the three women who won medals in the 800m competition in Rio 2016 Olympic Games: Francine Niyonsaba from Burundi, Margaret Wambui from Kenya and the twice Olympic champion, Caster Semenya. Semenya is banned by the World Athletics (WA), former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), from defending her title in Tokyo 2020. The Federation says she will only be able to compete if she takes hormone suppressants to lower her testosterone levels. Male athletes are not limited by a natural testosterone level to compete.

Africa’s campaign is supported by Sports TV channel, SporTV, a coalition of former athletes, sports scientists, and doctors. Among them is the ambassador of the initiative, the former volleyball player, Jackie Silva. She and her with her partner, Sandra Pires, were the first Brazilian women gold medallists in the Olympic Games. During the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Jackie Silva took one of these tests without knowing it. The movement is also backed by Dr Travers, a Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who has published extensively on the relationship between sports and social justice, with particular emphasis on the inclusion and exclusion of women, queer and trans people of all ages.

“Caster’s case deserves our attention because it affects the destiny of dozens of other athletes who will have their careers ended prematurely simply because they were born out of the standards imposed by technocrats from a regulatory agency. Why hasn’t the natural hormone production invalidated any male career ever? Has anyone stopped to compare Usain Bolt’s levels of testosterone to those of Justin Gatlin, for instance,” stated Jackie Silva?

“The reasons I am involved in this project center around my strong beliefs in gender justice and anti-racism. I believe that sex testing is not consistent with social justice and I’m particularly concerned that it is deployed most harmfully against racialized women,” Dr Travers added.

The campaign includes a website, where people can find out more about the movement, the ways of supporting it, read the Open Letter and learn more about the banned athletes. 

Credits:

Agency: Africa
Chief Creative Officer: Sergio Gordilho
Executive Creative Director: Matias Menendez
Copywriter: Nicholas Bergantin
Art Directors: Rodrigo Adam, Pedro Galdi & Yan Graller
Special Projects Directors: Monique Lopes Lima & Juliana Leite
Special Projects: Fernanda Segura, Fernando Alonso, Lica de Souza, Isabela Levy, Thays Miranda, Caio Rodrigues, Aline Saraiva & Malu Lins
Sustainability & Institutional Relations: Raphael Vandystadt
Community Managers: Carol Patrocinio  & Carolina Camila
PR: Valerie Silverman Kerr, Fabiana Antacli, Carina Miranda & Inovem Comunicacao
Agency Producers: Rodrigo Ferrari / Renata Sayao / Ian Inglez

Production Company: Santeria
Director: Rafa Damy
Assistant Directors: Barbara Aranega & Pedro Sokol
Director of Photography: Guilhe Muse
Art Direction: Paty Pereira & Thiago Cusack 
Editing: Rodolpho Ponzio

Post-Production: Line
Colour Grading: Osmar Junior
Production: Paula Ortiz
Executive Producers: Telma Silva, Rafa Damy & Edgard Soares Filho
Sound Design: Studio Cabaret

Music Production:  Mauro Kuschnir
Composer: Guilherme Azem
Mixing & Post-production: Gab Scatolin
Coordination: Verusca Garcia & Junior Freitas

Client: SporTV