Friday, September 11, 2009

I'm Really Confused



I haven't been writing about the South African runner Caster Semenya because I was waiting for the tests she took to come back. I didn't want to say something that was wrong, but when the tests came back yesterday and leaked to the media all it did was make me more confused.

Apparently the tests showed that Semenya is a man and a woman. She has three times the normal level of testosterone that a female would have. She has no womb or ovaries and she has male sexual organs inside her body. So, it sounds to me like she is a hermaphrodite and yet is much faster than Lady GaGa. It's good that each of them have their own talents. Anyway, the International Track & Field people are thinking of taking her gold medal from her but don't want South Africa to go berserk and they would.

My question is this. If she can't compete as a woman and she can't compete as a man, then where is she supposed to compete? I think that it is wrong for her to not be able to compete. It isn't like she did this on purpose. She was born this way. She can't control it. I mean I guess she could have surgery and remove the testes, but what if they are providing a necessary function to her body? Are there that many hermaphrodites out there that this is going to pop up frequently? It hardly seems fair to make her sit out from any kind of racing just because of something she was born with. It seems discriminatory. It seems wrong.

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