Even if you’re not a world-class athlete, this bit of news is definitely important.
The international world of athletics has been thrown into chaos! Caster Semenya, an 18 year-old sprinter phenomenon from South Africa, is breaking all sorts of barriers and causing quite the (unintentional) controversy. You see, Semenya innocently enough registered for the 800 meter world championships as female contestant. After she won the race and blew the competition out of the water, the other runners suddenly noticed that Semenya looked little bit different from them. She had…muscles!
Elisa Cusma Piccione, an Italian rival, called Semenya a man. Russian runner Mariya Savinova agreed. "Just look at her," she told a group of journalists in Berlin.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had Semenya submit to a battery of tests. A group of doctors, including a gynecologist, internal medicine expert, endocrinologist, psychologist, and an expert in gender finally confirmed that she is a hermaphrodite—having both male and female characteristics. In Semenya’s particular case, this means that she:
- has no womb
- has no ovaries
- has “internal testes”
- she has three times the amount of testosterone as a normal woman
What’s going to happen now? Many people, especially the female runners that she dominated in the 800m, are calling for Semenya to be stripped of her world championships gold medal and to be barred from all future events.
When quizzed by South African magazine “You” on the gender issue, Semenya said: "I see it all as a joke, it doesn't upset me. God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself. I don't want to talk about the tests - I'm not even thinking about them.''
Although Semenya is clearly taking the news quite well, others are outraged over the way she has been treated by the international community. Is there something sinister in the way that she has been prodded and scrutinized? Many think so. South Africans are speaking out about her case as just another example of the demeaning way in which white Westerners view black Africans.
"It feeds into the commercial stereotypes of how a woman should look, their facial and physical appearance, as perpetuated by backward Eurocentric definition of beauty”, the Young Communist League of South Africa said in a prepared statement.
The African National Congress MP and National Assembly have already filed a complained with the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, accusing the IAAF of sexism and racism. Regardless of how the case turns out, one thing is for certain: despite the fact that Semenya has lived her whole life as a woman, this discovery brings about a whole new set of questions. What is a “real” woman? Should Semenya be penalized for something that she can’t control?
This issue not only has the potential to heavily influence the world of athletics, but it also affects each individual who has ever thought about identity politics. Should Semenya be allowed to run? Weigh in on this very important issue below!
