18 year-old Caster Semenya became suspected of foul play three weeks ago when she dropped sick times in the 800 and 1500 meters. So she's being suspected of doping just like so many others in track and field? Nope. She's suspected of being a dude. Now I want to say up front that I am not calling into question--and certainly not laughing at-- individuals who struggle with gender assignment and/or gender identity. What I am calling into question is the way that the IAAF seems to be approaching this. A spokesman for the IAAF said, "If there's a problem and it turns out that there's been a fraud ... that someone has changed sex, then obviously it would be much easier to strip results. However, if it's a natural thing and the athlete has always thought she's a woman or been a woman, it's not exactly cheating." Wait, so are you saying that after she’s subjected to extensive gynecological, endocrinological, and psychological tests, if it turns out that she is and always has been a woman, that’s not exactly cheating? Are you saying that it’s still kind of cheating because she is just so freaking fast? If your tests reveal that this person changed gender, then congratulations IAAF; you can justify stripping someone’s medals and banning them from the sport. But what if she is just a really fast woman? Then you’ve completely humiliated one of your sport’s greatest stars. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me. Testing for drugs is one thing, where there is a fear that doping could become widespread. But how many people in the history of track and field have gotten a sex change to give themselves a competitive edge? I hope for your sake, IAAF, that it is not just “a natural thing.”
snap dude, that's tenuous ground!
ReplyDeletealso isn't funny that her name is semen-ya?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShe-man-yeah it is kinda funny (I just couldn't resist).
ReplyDeleteNames and rhetoric aside, this is a bizarre issue.
ReplyDeleteThere is precedent for stripping athletes of their achievements if they are found to be of the other sex or if they have ambiguous genitalia. Which begs the question, how do individuals with ambiguous genitalia compete?
It is all very strange, and to suggest that the governing bodies of these sports have figured out appropriate ways to deal with the <1% of human beings with ambiguity in sexual assignment (leaving aside gender, which is a whole other can of worms), would be outrageous.
I'm just sayin'.
Indeed, and well put. I'm asking a bit much of the IAAF to think that they have strict protocol for something that comes up so infrequently. And hell, it's like you say, just trying to come up with protocol like that would raise questions that nobody's ready to answer on the spot.
ReplyDeleteI've read up a little more on the situation since she took the gold in the World Champs last week, and to me there is good news and bad. The good news is that Semenya's attitude through all this seems to be very positive by all accounts. Apparently she has had her gender questioned many times before, and since this is nothing new, she seems to be more proud of her accomplishment than shamed by the controversy, come what may. The bad news is that many of her South African apologists are suggesting that Semenya's continent of origin is what is really behind the investigation. Apparently two European women who finished 5th and 6th behind her in the finals have both claimed that she can't be a woman, one of whom is quoted as saying "just look at her."
I swear, guys, I will never open up a can of worms like this on here again. To atone for my murder of buzz, I pledge a return to the Jason Maxiell posts that got me here.