Comments on: Unconfirmed Reports: South African Runner May Be Intersexed

By: Sal1970

Sal1970 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:13:31 +0000

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. semenya looks and sounds like a man regardless of what’s between her legs. she should be
barred from competing against the women.

By: Hillary Kleiner

Hillary Kleiner — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:12:48 +0000

I too, feel for the girl esp if she has undescended testicles.It is good then that she ran into this problem because they tend to turn malignant. All of that aside what bothers me the most is that the media went completely nuts with this. How would you like to live the rest of your life with the knowledge that people have indeed questioned your sexuality!!!

By: Dea

Dea — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:48:15 +0000

Everybody heard and saw Caster before she ran, why was her testosterone levels only tested after she’d won? to be fair, she should have been tested before competing, rumours abound that being in love can cause excess testosterone to be produced, why not stop that practise as well? If African culture is understood, please try to acknowledge what damage these rumours are doing to this young woman’s life, her situation is not by choice and it is not only about a medal.

By: Alyseal

Alyseal — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:00:53 +0000

I feel for the girl. I completely disagree that your hormone levels must fall within a “normal” range, however. If you are female and your body naturally kicks out high doses of hormones that give you a competitive edge, then tough cookies for the other athletes. The problem here is, how do we define gender? Is it by the look of your bits? (in which case she is a female,) or by whether or not you have ovaries as opposed to testes. If the latter is the case, technically Semenya is not a female. In the past, before we had the ability to test, she would have been considered a female, period. Our technology is making us aware that gender is not always as clear cut a line as we had assumed in the past. And now that we know that, we have to redefine what it is to be female or male. Is it going to be the presence or absence of the Y chromosome? Or is it going to be the presence or absence of ovaries or testes? Or are we going make that determination by the presence or absence of specific genitalia? All of that aside, I feel for the athlete herself. Whether or not we end up calling her a male, she has been raised to believe she is female, and every outside appearance would have confirmed that belief. Not only is her career at risk, so is her self image. I wish her nothing but the best.

By: qbsmd

qbsmd — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:17:55 +0000

One question I’ve had that no report I’ve seen has addressed is, since men are apparently agreed to have an advantage over women in running, are women allowed to run in men’s events if they choose to?

“Eliza Strickland Says:
@ scribbler — but how do you quantify an unfair advantage? If a runner has a genetic condition that makes her unusually tall, and therefore gives her a longer stride — is that unfair?”

Given that, what is the justification for having separate men’s and women’s events?

This issue seems to be fairly circular: women have separate running events because men have a competitive advantage, and the way it’s decided who can compete in women’s events is based on that same competitive advantage.

By: trans fan

trans fan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:53:17 +0000

Wow Kate! Dirty girl and smart too.. I don’t know why you’d want to end your sushi date with a Williams sister’s backhand though, especially after the episode the other night. Maybe its the hormones that made her tell the line judge she was going to kill her.

But hey, bears eat a lot of honey too.

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:09:35 +0000

If she has androgen insensitivity syndrome then any testosterone she produces cannot give her a competitive advantage since she has no receptors to transduce the signal.

By: Eliza Strickland

Eliza Strickland — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:44:10 +0000

@ scribbler — but how do you quantify an unfair advantage? If a runner has a genetic condition that makes her unusually tall, and therefore gives her a longer stride — is that unfair?

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:12:23 +0000

Its too bad that we have to apply a litmus test subjective to todays perceptions of sex and gender. Criteria that are used now are sure to change tomorrow. The blameless South African teenager deserves better than to be a sideshow footnote.

By: Marie

Marie — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:19:35 +0000

We don’t live in a Ken and Barbie world. There is much biological and physiological diversity with sex and gender. Trans fan makes a point. There are plenty of people who have physical advantages from birth other than intersexed related. Should we not allow them to compete as well? The answer is no. The only answer is to allow people with these medical conditions to decide for themselves with the help of their medical professionals and loved ones. Ever heard of brain sex? Did anyone test her psychological gender? There are so many variables (chromosomes, genitilia, secondary sex characteristics, hormonal sex, brain configuration, intersexed and transsexual medical conditions. Mother Nature and/or God didn’t make just two exact prototypes. We all have a mix of characteristics.

What about Martina Navratilova, Renee Richards, etc. for example?

By: scribbler

scribbler — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:46:46 +0000

If you strip away the question of gender and look at it from an “unfair advantage” aspect, I think the issue is much clearer. Does this person have an unfair advantage because of a raised hormone level in the blood?

If the answer is yes, then the solution is to prevent further exploitation of this unfair advantage.

Of course you should not penalize anyone for not knowing they had an unfair advantage to begin with…

By: Lupo

Lupo — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:02:25 +0000

I didn’t say it was bad, I said I wouldn’t disobey, just take a look at the size of her fist!

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:58:58 +0000

@ okaasan59 – I completely agree, and apologise beforehand if what I’m about to respond to transfan with in any way offends you.

@ transfan – …. and so Venus coming at me naked is a problem, why, exactly?

If she likes to eat raw salmon and likes to use her hands imagine how happy I’d be at that point. ^^

Mmmmmm … now I’m day dreaming about her backhand …. {mimicking some tennis players ‘oofs’}

roflmao 8P

By: trans fan

trans fan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:33:33 +0000

If Venus Williams comes at you naked, you’d better do what she says. She is like a Bear: she can outrun you, outclimb you and outswim you.
I don’t know if she eats whole Salmon raw with her hands, but I can imagine it.

By: okaasan59

okaasan59 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:01:23 +0000

I think it depends on the level of testosterone that her body produces. It certainly appears that there has been enough hormone to not only give her obvious male characteristics but also a probable advantage in the race.

If the level of hormone found is enough to haven given her an advantage then she should not be allowed to compete with women, though prior wins should stand since it was not her fault. But to have her continue to compete alongside other women would negate the whole reason for there being separate competitions for men and women.