Caster Semenya Is a Woman, Tests or No Tests

2 years ago

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"She may be a hermaphrodite, but so what? She is still a girl." Those were the words of South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, who last week demanded that the International Association of Athletics Federations apologize for violating runner Caster Semenya's privacy in the face of widespread, but unconfirmed, reports that the results of her gender test had been leaked to the media.

In August, Semenya won the women's 800-meter gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. But upon her victory, the 18-year-old South African runner came under scrutiny by competitors, who questioned whether Semenya was female or intersex, with some male and some female sexual characteristics. Soon the IAAF became involved, demanding testing to confirm Semenya's sex.

At a Friday press conference, Stofile hinted at possible legal action against the IAAF.

Seeing South African officials stand up for Semenya and her right to define her own gender is extraordinary because -- when this happened just three years ago -- the results were much different.

In 2006, Indian runner Santhi Soundararajan was forced to return her silver medal from the Asian Games and banned from further competitions after test results showed her to have a suppressed Y chromosome, despite female characteristics. The results of her test were quickly made public and, as squeamishly as kids in a health class, Indian officials immediately distanced themselves from Soundararajan. She was barred from the upcoming Olympic games and was reported to have attempted suicide shortly after.

In Semenya's case, when word that she might have to undergo sex testing first came out, Judy wondered if the speculation was less about chromosomes and more about Semenya's refusal to bow to social convention that says female athletes should look a certain way on the track.

Despite numerous reports of leaked results, the IAAF has said it won't confirm the results until November. But, even with the confirmed test results, determining sex scientifically is still not a simple matter. Even the chromosomes that determine sex aren't so neatly boxed. A new study out from the University of Leicester shows that counter to the common scientific wisdom, the X and Y chromosomes are not completely separate but actually interact and even swap DNA regions with one another.

From India, Soundararajan has been watching Semenya's story -- so similar to her own -- unfold. Though Soundararajan was no longer able to compete after her ban, she eventually found employment as a running coach. On Monday, Soundararajan told the BBC Tamil Service that she "would have won a gold medal" in the Olympics that she was barred from competing in and that, if Semenya kept her medal, than Soundararajan wanted her silver medal returned as well. This time around, Indian sporting officials say that they'll back her.

Filed Under: Woman Up, Culture

Tagged: caster semenya, CasterSemenya, gender, gender differences, gender equality, GenderDifferences, GenderEquality, science, sex, sports

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