Caster Semenya a tale of ambiguous genitalia… PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 21 August 2009 00:49 Written by Michael Fletcher

Warning this blog is about Caster Semenya and her reputed ambiguous genitalia it does however references God a bit if this is problem I suggest you leave now thanks -Mike

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Ok So The Source already covered this story in his If it looks like a vagina, it is probably a vagina post so what's all the hubub about? Turns out a vagina's only a vagina till someone in a white coat declares it ambiguous! If that's not enough apparently ambiguous genitalia is not a physiological matter but a social one.

 

"But at the end of the day, they are going to have to make a social decision on what counts as male and female, and they will wrap it up as if it is simply a scientific decision," Dreger said. "And the science actually tells us sex is messy. Or as I like to say, 'Humans like categories neat, but nature is a slob.' "

Source: NY. Times

 

Ok first up let's disambiguate this whole mess there is not currently a question that Caster Semenya is a cheat, only that her ambiguous genitalia natural as it is puts in question her gender, and thus  her sexuality is ambiguous. This ambiguity would cause chemical and physiological differences that would give Semenya a genetic advantage.

But Weiss stressed that the testing had been initiated because of "ambiguity, not because we believe Caster Semenye is cheating."

Caster-Semenya

So essentially what the white coat brigade are saying is that this is all God's fault. The tests currently being performed on Caster Semenya as we speak will violate her privacy and dignity in an attempt to essentially question nature. I mean really now what happens if Caster Semenya is found to not be a woman? She's certainly not a man, where does that leave us? Like The Pianist reminded us when she quoted kindegarten cop

"Boys have a penis, and girls have a vagina"

When that's not true where does that leave us ideologically. When is a man a man. If God made this sexually ambiguous runner what does it say about accepted gender roles or even homosexuality? I mean essentially if Caster Semenya is declared a man for the purpose of athletics and she married a man would that be construed a same sex marriage? I'm just saying this is a can of worms.

"These kind of people should not run with us,"

Elisa Cusma of Italy, who finished sixth, said in a post race interview with Italian journalists.

The tests that Caster Semenya is going to face will start with Visual inspection and include all sorts of tests on her genetics, gonads, hormone levels as well as trawling through her medical records. (no clue what a Gonad is and and to tired to google it if you wanna stick a definition in the comments that'd be cool :P )

Spare a thought for Caster Semenya the person, not the object of international ridicule. An athlete whose entire life hangs in the balance. What is done cannot be undone and I am even now in awe of her resolve to step up in that final and blow the competition away while the whole world gawked hoping for some slip on her part that might prove her masculinity.

This will hang over her head for the rest of Semenya's career. So I'll wait till the results are out but one way or another the IAAF and the press have failed this young South African woman.

Update

It is now being reported in two Australian Newspapers that they have received Caster Semenya's results. Over and above this it is alleged that Caster Semenya has no uterus nor ovaries and has internal testes. All of this under the pretense of being news. If this is true and this information was leaked to the press before the athlete was even consulted I fully believe the Caster Semenya camp should take the IAAF to the cleaners.

These sensational claims that Semenya is a hermaphrodite even if they are found to be true are an embarresment it's one thing to break a story and another completely to make public knowledge a medical condition that the patient is not yet aware of.



Once more I wish that Caster Semenya and her family could have been spared all of this and their medical histories not played out like a cheap soap opera. I wish the Semenya family everything of the best in this dark time South Africa is behind you

From the Hermaphrodite wiki
Hermaphrodite was used to describe any person incompatible with the biological gender binary, but has recently been replaced by intersexual in medicine. Humans with typical reproductive organs but atypical clitoris/penis are called pseudohermaphrodites in medical literature.

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written by Dissol, August 21, 2009
I do feel desperately sorry for Carster; whatever the outcome. Imagine having your most personal issues being given widespread media such as this.

But I do think it is unfair to also blame the "white coat brigade". Unfortunately nature is not always so simple, and neat, and tidy. The line between male and female is not at all neat (as any livestock farmer can attest to). Visual inspection may show female genitalia...and yet internally there can be male genitalia. Chromosomes? X/X or X/Y? Should be simple, but even that is not clear cut. Hormones, again, there is variation.

Whatever, I think that the whole affair has been handled badly by the different authorities involved. Apparently the issue was first raised some time ago, so why wait until it is front page news and potentially destroy someone's life?
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written by Language Girl, August 21, 2009
Gonads produce sex cells Mike ..... men often mention their 'nads' - you work it out!

One of the saddest medical conditions, from my point of view, is a hermaphrodite. He/she literally has vestiges of both sex organs.

Poor girl - yet she seems so far to have been able to rise above the whole debacle.
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written by Language Girl, August 21, 2009
OS btw...dude this just IRRRRKS the F out of me!!!

its STUPID.

she won, if you look at pics where her hair is braided differently she looks like a she!!!

They just jealous she has a six pack and most men don't!!!!
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written by MikeZilla, August 21, 2009
@Dissol Don't blame them science is science, I'm just saying Usain Bolt is obviously genetically predisposed to running really fast, lets make hime run with a 20kg weight strapped to his back. It's all far too Harrison Bergeron for my liking!
@LG :grin know it's general meaning lol was hoping someone would spare me having to look up the definition, definition, I'm kinda anal that way. This whole thing does unsettle me though
@OS I'm just saying she does look a bit manny and I heard her giving comment and sounds quite manny. So I kinda understand why theres all this unhappiness I'm just saying the system has failed this woman if she's found to be a woman her legacy is always going to be that of the woman who was accused of being a man, it's rather upsetting
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written by MikeZilla, August 21, 2009
this actually reminds me of sarah baartmen all over again Mr.P
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written by barrmar, August 21, 2009
Wouldn't a simple chromosome test be definitive - xx or xy? Why a panel!?
I really don't think that discussion should be in the public domaine - are we not allowed any privacy at all any more?
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written by MikeZilla, August 21, 2009
@Barrmar it's kind of hard to sift through all the rhetoric but from what I can understand is they're questioning the extent to which her physiology resembles that of a male, in terms of testosterone production muscle ma*s etc. and if these give her the same advantage that a man would have all in all it's dangerous train of thought. This all really should have remained behind closed doors until resolved though saving us all this trial by media
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written by The Pianist, August 21, 2009
That's what i was thinking. This reminds me of barbaric days and sometimes still happens, where a woman is checked to see if her hyman is intact. Women do sports now, and not only sex breaks that hymen, yet they still put them through such embarra*sment, and sometimes torture/death.

I am disgusted that IAAF listens to the bullies who started this speculation in the beginning, it seems no matter where she goes, this abuse follows her. Well I say good luck to her, and she is a hero, for how she is handling this gender discrimination
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written by JackClaxton, August 26, 2009
Right, said Fred.

So if it becomes unacceptable to demand proof of gender to some sort of definition of it, then there really is no alternative than to banish gender from sport altogether.

That is, no men's 100m or woman's 100m, no men's Wimledon or lady's Wimbledon, but just 100m and Wimbledon.

Or do you see gender as a choice? i.e. if Agga*si can't make it in the men's final, he can choose to try for the lady' title instead?
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written by MikeZilla, August 26, 2009
Not the quite the gist of my argument. In this case where there is no evidence of cheating and to all intents and purposes an athlete is female which is not really in question. The contention here is does she have a genetic advantage over other female athletes. If she does have a physiology closer to that of a man yet is socially accepted as a woman, it still leaves her in no man's land. I don't know what the answer to the whole question is but it is to my mind at least a tricky old business all this labelling. Genetically not all athletes are created equal.

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