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askygoneonfireSo Caster Semenya is making headlines and the internet seems to be abuzz with chatter about whether 'she is a he'.
What a horrific way of phrasing it. In itself it immediately reveals the bias which most of the news stories seem to have baked right in. A quick google reveals prolific use of the word 'real' and a near universal tag line beneath Semenya's name of "Man or Woman?". The sensationalism simply oozes from the screen.
Let's talk about the real issue here: international athletics officials demands an athlete take a 'gender test' (inaccurate in itself, her gender is evidently female, what we're talking about is a test to verify whether her chromosomes are xx, xy or xxy) because she is very good at her sport and, more importantly, does not 'look' female by a heteronormative standard of femininity (A key argument in many of the articles springing up this evening).
One blog rails about the South African Athletics Federation 'failing' in its duty to verify whether Semenya was 'really' a woman. The SAAF, however, states confidently that they were "'completely sure' that the 18-year-old Semenya is a female."[1] 'Ross' states that as the SAAF did not do a genetic test/examine Semenya's chromosomes it is "laughable" to say they were completely sure of her sex. This argument can only ever be partially successful on the grounds that 'Ross' is not also accusing the Athletics Federation of every other country with athletes in this competition of being lax in their duty to verify the 'real gender' of their athletes.
Athletics does not require routine chromosonal screening of all competitors. Given the high incidence of intersex it is not impossible to imagine that there are currently, and have been in the past, many intersex athletes. That only some are 'discovered' (and by 'discovered' I mean dragged through the papers with offensive and life changing judgements passed down on them) is not down to a fair and universal ruling of international athletics bodies but oppressively heteronormative, reactionary and deeply flawed value judgements of the 'appropriateness' of the physical appearance of individuals in relation to their gender.
This is not a blog about whether Caster Semenya is 'really' a woman or a man. It is a blog how this particular story has revealed the broader failure of athletics in failing to include comprehensive and inclusive rules on the verification of biological sex for all competitors and the deeply flawed system (underpining this as a necessary investigation) which effectively denies intersex individuals from competing in sex segregated competitions.
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8210471.stm
What a horrific way of phrasing it. In itself it immediately reveals the bias which most of the news stories seem to have baked right in. A quick google reveals prolific use of the word 'real' and a near universal tag line beneath Semenya's name of "Man or Woman?". The sensationalism simply oozes from the screen.
Let's talk about the real issue here: international athletics officials demands an athlete take a 'gender test' (inaccurate in itself, her gender is evidently female, what we're talking about is a test to verify whether her chromosomes are xx, xy or xxy) because she is very good at her sport and, more importantly, does not 'look' female by a heteronormative standard of femininity (A key argument in many of the articles springing up this evening).
One blog rails about the South African Athletics Federation 'failing' in its duty to verify whether Semenya was 'really' a woman. The SAAF, however, states confidently that they were "'completely sure' that the 18-year-old Semenya is a female."[1] 'Ross' states that as the SAAF did not do a genetic test/examine Semenya's chromosomes it is "laughable" to say they were completely sure of her sex. This argument can only ever be partially successful on the grounds that 'Ross' is not also accusing the Athletics Federation of every other country with athletes in this competition of being lax in their duty to verify the 'real gender' of their athletes.
Athletics does not require routine chromosonal screening of all competitors. Given the high incidence of intersex it is not impossible to imagine that there are currently, and have been in the past, many intersex athletes. That only some are 'discovered' (and by 'discovered' I mean dragged through the papers with offensive and life changing judgements passed down on them) is not down to a fair and universal ruling of international athletics bodies but oppressively heteronormative, reactionary and deeply flawed value judgements of the 'appropriateness' of the physical appearance of individuals in relation to their gender.
This is not a blog about whether Caster Semenya is 'really' a woman or a man. It is a blog how this particular story has revealed the broader failure of athletics in failing to include comprehensive and inclusive rules on the verification of biological sex for all competitors and the deeply flawed system (underpining this as a necessary investigation) which effectively denies intersex individuals from competing in sex segregated competitions.
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8210471.stm
