Caster Semenya

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Has anyone been following the current gender row with Caster Semenya tinyurl.com/n53uxz ?

So she is not being allowed to compete because she has both male and female sex organs and her testosterone level gives her an unfair advantage. My initial thought is since when are sports supposed to be fair? Should tall women not be allowed to play basketball? Or maybe naturally stout women shouldn’t be allowed to compete in weightlifting? I don’t believe her intersex condition should automatically disqualify her from competition. What do you other people think?
 
Unfortunately, it’s a very tough call and tough situation for Caster. I can see the merits of both arguments. On the one hand, she does have an advantage that a typical female does not have because of biology, and she isn’t competing against biological peers. On the other hand, she has always identified as female because of her external genitalia, and if you don’t allow her to compete because of her testosterone levels then she really doesn’t have a place to compete at all. While being strictly fair, it is also quite cruel to take that from her.

I can also see the argument that you can never create a class of perfect female peers because even those who are not intersex may have natural variations in hormone levels or muscle mass that make them “not biological peers”.

Really tough. I don’t have a clear position on it either way, but Caster definitely deserves sympathy.
 
This is sad:( But I understand why they’re questioning it. If she wins all the women’s events because she has the advantage of being manly as well, with stronger muscles and testostereone, it is not quite fair… This is so tragic! I thank God that I don’t have to deal with this…
 
No one is going to win in this case. We don’t know if Semenya was told about her conditions before this episode, but can you imagine growing up all your life as either a male or female and then have a bunch of athletic officials poking and prodding you in front of the whole world?

I can’t see any good resolutions to this problem. If Semenya is allowed to continue to compete as a woman, what does that say to her fellow competitors? What, then, is the difference between female athletes doping to emulate Semenya’s natural, if they can be called that, advantages? On the other hand, even if she is allowed to keep her medal, what does that say about equaty and fairness of excluding a certain group of individuals (rare as they may be) from competing?

I would be more worried about what this will do to Semenya.
 
Hi, Pathia glad to see you. Hope you’re doing well.

:shamrock2:
 
pathia said:
Thanks to the condemnations and ruthless unforgiving media, she is now on suicide watch.

cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2009/09/17/sp-amateur-semenya-watch.html
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I saw that, it is very sad. I guess having to drop your pants with the whole world watching can be really humiliating.
I wonder what her legal options after an ambiguous gender test. :hmmm: I believe the gender testing in female sports is designed to weed out men posing as women not to get rid of all women with some sort of gender disorder.
 
Tosk said:
I saw that, it is very sad. I guess having to drop your pants with the whole world watching can be really humiliating.
I wonder what her legal options after an ambiguous gender test. :hmmm: I believe the gender testing in female sports is designed to weed out men posing as women not to get rid of all women with some sort of gender disorder.
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They won’t take her medal, but she will be forbidden from running again. Most likely she will not be able to compete against men either. Her career is completely over.
 
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