Gender Boundaries Blur In Medal Debacle

Susan notes: an interesting and thoughtful post by Erin Bougie on Gender Across Borders, a global feminist blog.

Since the Track and Field World Championships ended in August, the world has been anxiously awaiting the IAAF’s (International Association of Athletics) decision on whether or not to strip Caster Semenya of her gold medal. For those who don’t remember Semenya, she is the 18-year old South African 800m runner who is under scrutiny for having an extremely muscular build and rapidly improving her times. Readers might also know her as the “hermaphrodite” runner.

From a recent article in Sports Illustrated, a deal between Semenya’s lawyers and the IAAF was made allowing her to keep her gold medal and prize money from the World Championships.

I specifically put hermaphrodite in the paragraph above in quotes for a reason. The IAAF has not released ANY information regarding the results Semenya’s gender verification tests and probably will keep the results confidential. However, if Semenya is not seen in future races, it is obvious that results have classified her as a male for competition purposes.

The hermaphrodite gossip originates from a September article in The Daily Telegraph, an Australian newspaper claiming she has three times the amount of testosterone that a “normal” female would have. According to a source closely involved with the IAAF testing, which included various scans, has revealed she has internal testes – the male sexual organs which produce testosterone.

Click here to read the full story:
By Erin Bougie
Gender Across Borders

Photo @ Telegraph.co.uk