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No Right to Privacy for SA Runner Caster Semanya
Thursday, September 10, 2009 04:01 PM
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Caster Semanya, who rattled the running world by knocking 9 seconds off her previous 800 meter time, was required to take a gender verification test. Those results came back mixed, and now are plastered all over for the world to see. I feel for her, as I can understand how gender and sexuality can be intensely private issues. However, South Africans, including Caster, appear to be embracing her results. Maybe the SA can teach the US how to be more tolerant of those who don't fall within the traditional binary gender system. Orin Yaniv, of the NY Daily News, writes:
The 18-year-old South African champ has no womb or ovaries and her testosterone levels are more than three times higher than those of a normal female, according to reports.
The tests, ordered by The International Association of Athletics Federations after Semenya's 800-meter victory in the World Championships, determined she's a hermaphrodite - having both male and female organs.
Semenya could be stripped of the gold medal she won in Berlin last month and her competitive future is in limbo, according to Australia's Daily Telegraph.
The athletics governing body is also expected to advise her to have surgery to fix the potentially deadly condition, the paper reported. The IAAF would not comment on the results that have yet to be released.
According to a source with knowledge of the IAAF tests, Semenya has internal testes - the male sexual organs that produce testosterone.
Testosterone is a hormone responsible for building muscles and for producing body hair and a deep voice.
Confirmation of the test results is sure to stoke the controversy that erupted after the university student's sensational track triumph.
She has been embraced in her home country - where she was declared "our girl" - and appeared on a magazine cover after a feminine makeover.
"God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself," she told You Magazine, which ran a photo spread.
"I don't want to talk about the tests. I'm not even thinking about them."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/10/2009-09-10_caster_semenya_.html#ixzz0QkOXr3Kl
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