Well imagine you are an 18-year old, South African female runner who just destroyed your competition by 2.45 seconds in the 800 meter race at the World Championships in Berlin. You have more masculine features…washboard abs any man would be jealous of, chiseled arms, masculine facial features, and a deep voice….but you are female. You have been female your whole 18 years, you just like playing with boys and hate wearing dresses so you wore pants to school. Everyone always thought you were a little boy instead of the little girl you were, even the principal of the school you attended your whole educational life. Because of all this, you have to undergo embarrassing gender testing to prove who and what you are. AND have the whole world know about it.
Gender testing for female athletes was normal prior to the 2000 Olympics. Mainly because European female athletes had manly features and competed at a higher rate than the women they were competing against. The issue there was using testosterone to become better athletes, not genetics. Also, the testing was necessary because the world could not believe females could compete at such high levels, so testing was used to confirm gender.
Welcome to the world of Caster Semenya…and many other female athletes that don’t fit the mold of what a female is suppose to look and act like…
She has always been faster, faster than the other little girls and even faster than the boys. Talent is responsible for some of this, along with hard work, and genetics. Sure she has higher testosterone levels than the average female, but so does any female athlete. Most female athletes have more masculine features or traits than the average female; it is part of being good at athletics that require more strength, endurance, hand eye coordination and so on. Sadly, those are all masculine traits. I have known quite a few female athletes that had more athletic bodies than even some males I knew.
Caster Semenya on the medal stand next to competitor
There are so many genetic anomalies that exist that could have caused her masculine features, just as some are genetically enable more feminine features in males. Do we question a males gender because they can decorate, or cook, or write poetry well? We question his sexuality. So what’s the difference?
Semenya was recently found to possess testes that never dropped as well as a vagina that is basically an empty pocket. In other words she is a intersexed. She was unaware of this, although I am sure she and her family knew there was some unique about her. Because of the testes she produces more testosterone than the average woman. This does give her an unfair advantage, almost like physically taking performance enhancing drugs to produce extra testosterone.
Caster Semenya and a new look
Due to the many variations of the female genetic make up, it is nearly impossible to disqualify a female because she genetically is not a typical female. But what happens to Semenya? I assume, she will no longer be permitted to compete against females but also cannot compete against males.
Does this outcome mean female athletes who excel will again be forced to undergo embarrassing gender testing to prove who and what they are? Since most female athletes are accused of being something other than what they are in the first place, it only makes sense.
Genetics, extra male hormones, medical mistake at birth…none of these are her fault or any female who just so happens to be better than her competitors and many males. Many children are born each year without a clear gender, should they be punished for that?
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