Posted on 09/19/2009 6:36:16 AM PDT by SkyPilot
PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- The president of Athletics South Africa has admitted that he lied about gender tests on runner Caster Semenya before her gold-medal win at the World Athletics Championships last month.
Caster Semenya celebrates her gold at the world championships in Berlin.
The national sports body has always denied that it agreed to the tests before the race in Berlin, Germany -- an event that kicked off international controversy over the 18-year-old Semenya's gender.
But after South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper printed e-mails on Friday showing that ASA President Leonard Chuene was aware of the tests, he held a news conference to apologize.
"I now realize that it was an error of judgment and I would like to apologize unconditionally," Chuene said on Saturday, according to South Africa's SAPA news agency.
After receiving the results of the tests, the South Africa team doctor requested the 18-year-old Semenya be withdrawn from the 800-meter race she ended up winning, Chuene said.
But Chuene said he refused to do it because the sport's international governing body did not request withdrawal. He also said withdrawing Semenya might have looked bad.
"If we did not let her run, we would be confirming that she is not normal," Chuene told the news conference in the capital, Pretoria.
snip.............
This week, South Africa's minister for women, children and people with disabilities wrote to the United Nations to complain that Semenya had not been treated in line with international protocols on gender and quality.
"The questioning of her gender is based on a stereotypic view of the physical features and abilities attributable to women," she wrote in the letter, according to SAPA. "Such stereotypes demonstrate the extent of patriarchy within the world's sporting community."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
What does a man (yes, "she" is a man) posing as a woman to illegally win an athletic race have to do with patriarchy?
Liberals gone wild.....again.
"One of these things is not like the other"
"One of these things just doesn't belong"
Regardless though the issue here is fairness to the other female athletes who are basically competing against a man.
But yes, Semenya should NOT be allowed to compete against women. Semenya is not a woman.
It’s a guy. Can’t believe the officials believed otherwise. What a farce.
She has 3 times the average female level of testosterone, due to anomalous internal glands. Which is still less than 1/3 of that of an average male. 1/10 of male athletes.
She's also androgen insensitive (hence the female genitalia). That means she's mostly IMMUNE to testosterone. 3 times normal might mean she has LESS effective testosterone in her system than most women.
Please do some research into "Intersex" - the condition of having a body neither 100% male nor 100% female. One person in 60 is Intersexed, but most don't know it, as it may be asymptomatic, or nearly so. You could be one of them.
For example, most men have 46,XY chromosomes, most women have 46,XX ones. But 1 in 500 people - almost all men - have 47,XXY ones.
And not everyone who has 46,XY chromosomes is male.
A 46,XY mother who developed as a normal woman underwent spontaneous puberty, reached menarche, menstruated regularly, experienced two unassisted pregnancies, and gave birth to a 46,XY daughter with complete gonadal dysgenesis.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93(1):182-9.
Women with CAIS - *complete* androgen insensitivity, are completely immune to testosterone. Many are supermodels as the result, as they look more feminine than most other women.
She is neither a man nor a woman. That’s what makes this whole thing so unfortunate. I say leave it alone. This person has enough problems. However, I don’t think she should be permitted to compete in future events.
A person should only be allowed in a women-only competition if the person has conventional XX chromosomes. Period. I don’t care about appearance, or the person’s considerations about what sex he/she is.
After receiving the results of the tests, the South Africa team doctor requested the 18-year-old Semenya be withdrawn from the 800-meter race she ended up winning, Chuene said. But Chuene said he refused to do it because the sport's international governing body did not request withdrawal. He also said withdrawing Semenya might have looked bad... This week, South Africa's minister for women, children and people with disabilities wrote to the United Nations to complain that Semenya had not been treated in line with international protocols on gender and quality. "The questioning of her gender is based on a stereotypic view of the physical features and abilities attributable to women," she wrote in the letter, according to SAPA. "Such stereotypes demonstrate the extent of patriarchy within the world's sporting community."then added, "Oh, but yeah, she is really a he. I blame the Boer."
I do feel sorry for her and her family and don't blame them - they didn't know she had a problem. But I don't feel it is fair to have her compete against women.
We did get the comic spectacle of Zulu Jacob Zuma giving bombastic rhetoric of declaring war out of this incidence, always good for a laugh.
Yet she still has the physical characterists of a male and performs athletically like one.
“Intersex” - the condition of having a body neither 100% male nor 100% female. One person in 60 is Intersexed, but most don’t know it, as it may be asymptomatic, or nearly so. You could be one of them.
________________
I think the First Wookie and Obummer are intersexed. He’s girly, she’s manly so that makes them equals. His boobs are the same size as hers too.
Let me be clear, I wasn’t saying Semanya has CAIS. I was simply trying to explain the earlier post in simpler terms. It should be noted that there are varying degrees of T insensitivity. It’s not rare. In fact, it is a common cause of male infertility. As far as Semanya goes, I couldn’t make a guess beyond what you have already read. Consult an endocrinologist.
I misunderstood as well - thought someone had posted that she did, definitely, have CAIS and it just didn’t seem possible that there wasn’t a testosterone effect. Thanks for clarifying
It does seem to me that people like to defuse a situation which may not be immediately understandable with jokes and other misinformation. I would however excuse them somewhat, by blaming previous generations. When there were mass medical exams in England in the 1950's for young men to be conscripted, I remember stories.
One could wince at the crass ignorance of that generation of 18 year olds. Nobody, but nobody, thought of the person who might be "not quite right". There was a male racing driver at that time who "changed sex" and a female who also had some sort of operation. The tabloid press, masquerading as newspapers- vis the London Daily Mirror, when absolutely ballistic, like a Martian had landed. The sublime and crude ignorance of my generation is to be excused though.
It is every ones business after the little jokes etc. to learn- I include myself in this.
I know this is preachy of me, but your information can at least be read carefully. After that, one could quote Robert Burns and his homily on the human race.
* Winning = coming in first by any and all means
Unfortunately, in terms of biological gender, sometimes the coin lands on the side.
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