A pretty predicament

[te_lanus]

Hi all

here is a article from my hometown . "she" is our new 800m specialist, but her gender has been questioned a lot according to the paper this morning. Seems a lot of media attention is very negative about her winning yesterday.

South Africa’s new athletics sensation Caster Semenya goes into tonight’s 800 metres final at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin under a cloud of controversay.

The 18-year-old’s gender is question after with Australian newspapers claimed the IAAF is conducting tests to whether she is a woman.

Semenya’s coach and South Africa’s Olympic body SASCOC have rejected the claims, saying Semenya is a woman.

Dr Ross Tucker, a sports exercise physiologist at the University of Cape Town, says it is not the first time the athlete’s gender has been questioned.

"There have been rumours and allegations around her for a number of years. When she broke through a year or two ago and started to win races in this country I’m led to believe that some people brought it up at that stage. Why the process wasn’t implemented right from the outset I don’t know," says Tucker.

Semenya is the favourite and her coach Michael Feme has predicted at least a top five finish.

Eyewitness News: Semenya goes into 800m final under a cloud

A very interesting article:
Controversial runner Caster Semenya wins 800m in dominant performance - Sport

A good look at both sides from science
The Science of Sport: Caster Semenya: Male or female?

 

[Madhuri]

Yeh I've seen this on the news. Defintiely looks like a guy.

 

[mimidotcom]

yes..she favors a dude.. but so does venus williams.. have they tested her yet?

 

[Falvlun]

Poor kid. I find it hard to believe that a boy would be willing to masquarade as a girl. My money's on her being a normal girl, who just happens to look boyish. It can happen.

And if she is a hermaphrodite, I couldn't think of a worse way for such a personal condition to be made public.

 

[Engyo]

Personally if he or she or whatever is the best runner out there, more power to her/him/****.

 

[Madhuri]

It even looks like he/she/herm has facial hair. Also, no boobs, and nice manly muscles.

 

[whereismynotecard]

Looks like a guy to me.
But I didn't read the article.
I just looked at the pic-cha.

 

[Vile Atheist]

Mostly male qualities, but there are a few feminine traits.

 

[te_lanus]

One of our tabloids state that she is a hermaphrodite, But one of the other papers state that she went thru a gender test when she was 15 and was found that she is a girl

 

[3.14]

well its obvius a male since the speed is to high for the female competitiors,

 

[Vile Atheist]

well its obvius a male since the speed is to high for the female competitiors,

Oh no you didn't lol....

 

[McBell]

One would think it would rather simple.
Does she have a penis, or does she have a vagina?

Seems to me that that would be the FIRST place to start....

If they decide to do some sort of genetic or DNA test, then they need to make the test mandatory for ALL competitors.

Sounds to me that some people do not like that she has won and are bringing it up in hopes to "save face" in light of their loss.

 

[3.14]

yes but "she" has certain acheivement increasing chemicalslevels that are normaly only found in male's, this give's her an unfiar advantage to the rest of the competitors.

thus the only fair thing to do is classify her as male so "she" gets the competition she needs


xxy ......??
xx female
xy male

 

[Vile Atheist]

yes but "she" has certain acheivement increasing chemicalslevels that are normaly only found in male's, this give's her an unfiar advantage to the rest of the competitors.

thus the only fair thing to do is classify her as male so "she" gets the competition she needs


xxy ......??
xx female
xy male

Wouldn't trisomy mean she has some sort of genetic disease like Down's or Kleinefelters? (the only two I can think of off the top of my head).

 

[3.14]

not neccacery but it is commen
those without it can become great athleets

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Competitions shouldn't be divided between males and females anyway. I've been taught my whole life that men and women are equal in every way (except that women are better at communicating, multi-tasking, and being mature), so it has always puzzled me why athletic competitions are divided between men and women.

 

[3.14]

nope female's are worse at sport, maby equel in other ways but physical isn't one of them (there are exeptions)

 

[Autodidact]

One would think it would rather simple.
Does she have a penis, or does she have a vagina?

Seems to me that that would be the FIRST place to start....

If they decide to do some sort of genetic or DNA test, then they need to make the test mandatory for ALL competitors.

Sounds to me that some people do not like that she has won and are bringing it up in hopes to "save face" in light of their loss.

Actually sex turns out to be more complicated than that, believe it or not. A person can be XY, meaning genetically male, but have an androgen insensitivity condition, so that they develop with female appearance at birth, though they are genetically male. Often this is not discovered until puberty, because the internal female organs do not develop. There can also be a partial insensitivity, resulting in male appearing sex organs, or even both.

Or a girl with congential adrenal hyperplasia are androgenized in utero, have XX chromosomes, may (or may not) be born with genitalia and appear male externally, but turn out not to be. They may also develop facial hair, a deep voice, strong jawbone, and appear masculine, but are not; they are masculine women.

There's other variations of all this.

So it's not that simple.

 

[Autodidact]

nope female's are worse at sport, maby equel in other ways but physical isn't one of them (there are exeptions)

Except for distance swimming, where women do better than men.

 

[Duck]

It even looks like he/she/herm has facial hair. Also, no boobs, and nice manly muscles.

My understanding is that serious athletic training will often result in (due to lower body fat levels and increased muscle mass) bigger muscles and smaller boobs. My sister has facial hair and has borne 3 children, so that is not really an indicator of male vs female either.

Regardless of muscularity and performance, 1 check needs to be made: Is there a presence of performance enhancing drugs in HER system? If so, then disqualify HER and HER coach. If a check is going to be made to verify HER gender, then I expect the same check to be made on ALL of HER competitors.