The importance of discerning Caster Semenya's sex relates to far more than one athletes eligibility to compete as a woman. The abillity to live life as the gender she was born and raised are potentially at stake, for this person, and perhaps others.
South Africa's athlete Caster Semenya gestures after her arrival at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday Aug 25, 2009. Semenya, who is undergoing gender testing after questions arose about her muscular build and deep voice, returns home Tuesday to celebrations after her 800-meter win at the world championships. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
The following article was written by a guest columnist , Carolynne Juarez, providing a woman's perspective on the controversy.
The controversy surrounding Caster Semenya was heightened recently when it was discovered that her coach was Ekkart Arbeit. Mr Arbeit coached East German athletes in the 1970s during a period in which the women athletes, most notably, collected 40 medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. What was discovered decades later about the East German athletes was that the girls, selected as young as 12 years of age, participated in a state-sponsored program in which testosterone and steroids were administered without their knowledge.
Semenya’s masculinity is obvious. It is unfortunate that she has found herself in this situation which may or may not be of her own creation. With three times the amount of testosterone normally found in a woman, those who claim that the athlete is being subjected to racial harassment or treated inhumanely are simply detracting from the exposure of a potentially harmful situation. While Semenya could find herself disqualified from the IAAF World Games where she recently won a gold medal for a performance that looked all too easy, she could also be in danger of losing her femininity all together if she is, without her knowledge, the subject of yet another experiment. The effects of testosterone are not reversible.
Several of the East German female athletes spoke in a documentary titled "Doping for Gold" that has aired on PBS. In this documentary, several women tell of the horrors they experienced in the aftermath of their athletic careers including miscarriages, abnormal hair growth and the deepening of their voices. Heidi Kreiger, perhaps the most tragic, tells how she was forced to choose "sex reassignment" surgery because she was assumed male.
The South Africans were well aware of Semenya’s high testosterone levels before the World Games. Now they cry foul because Semenya’s gender is called to the fore. Something is not right and Caster Semenya is caught in the middle. She deserves a fair shot as an athlete, as a woman and as a human. Hopefully, with this issue behind her, she will be able to race as a woman for years to come.
Comments
And, your viewpoint as a woman is that she is a doper (either consensually or obliviously)? Um, ya think she might actually be a woman and has not been doped? I do. I know several women who have shed bitter tears over their deep voices and manly hands, insulted casually by jerks in bars and at bus stops. Perhaps you are not making the assumption that seems to be the gist of your argument here, but if not, you did not manage to make it plain that you think she could be a woman with a lot of testosterone because her genes make her that way. And, frankly, your concern trolling in place of genuine compassion is thin as p*ss on a flat rock.
Caster does have the deepest voice I've ever heard for a lady. Other than that, she seems like a girl to me. Her boyish gestures are mimicry. She's acting. While she was growing up, her playmates were boys. Must every girl go to charm school? As long as she's not on the juice, she's OK.
The facts indicate that there may be a serious problem here.
The combination of "coach" Arbeit plus the performance increases , masculinity and complaints from South Africans themselves do not look good.
The test result will clear this up but there is more at stake than Caster's feelings .......what about all of those female athletes who have worked their butts off to get where they are ....they also deserve to know that they are racing against a Female.
Want to see and listen to women with deeper voices? Come to Spain and Semenya will sound like a song bird to you.
I don't think it really matters if she is a girl or not,maybe it is about time we bring in equality into sports too.There should no longer be discrimination in events for men and womenBoth sexes should now compete in the same events...we are all equals for goodness sake
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