Woman, man or a little bit of both? How deciding Caster Semenya's gender

Daily Mail ^

[traumer]

The family and friends of the teenager who struck gold in the women's 800 metres at the World Athletics Championships but now faces sex tests hit out yesterday at claims she could be a man.

And South African Caster Semenya was also backed by her government, who called her the country's 'golden girl' and a role model for young athletes.

Caster, whose rapid improvement over the last year raised eyebrows, won the women's title with a crushing performance in Berlin on Wednesday.

The governing body of world athletics, the IAAF, has asked South Africa to test their star 18-year-old's gender after her muscular physique and extraordinary performances sparked speculation over whether she is really female.

But her proud mother Dorcus Semenya declared: 'I know who and what my child is. Caster is all girl, and no one can change that.'

Speaking from her home in the rural village of Seshego in South Africa's Limpopo province, the mother-of-six added: 'If you ask any of my neighbours, they would tell you that Caster is a girl.'

Here we analyse just how difficult it is to determine gender

At first thought, it seems strange that the South African runner Caster Semenya needs to take a sex test to determine whether she is indeed a woman - or a man, as rumours suggest.

[Politicalmom]

“You dead, man?”

[jocon307]

“The [1936] silver medal was won by Stella Walsh, a Polish sprinter whose true gender was only discovered when he/she was gunned down in the crossfire of a bank robbery in Ohio in 1980.”

Yeah, I guess this person had a strange life, and a strange and tragic end. A poor old lady (or whatever) killed like that, very sad.

[Peter Libra]

On Stella Walsh,silver medalist.

Yeah, I guess this person had a strange life, and a tragic end.

I agree and I think part of the problem that the general public has had- and that includes myself is this.

The actual unfortunate undeserved trick of nature (Stella's case)as opposed to those twisted persons who had normal birth. Some of these persons had surgery for their own reasons. They had drugs administered to enhance sexual attributes.

Well, we have all learned something on this matter, which is to the good.

[longtermmemmory]

What did the test results say? have they come back?

[Kozak]

Interestingly enough if you unscramble the anagram of
Caster Semenya
You get

” A Secret Man, Yes”

[Peter Libra]

What did the test results say? Have they come back?

Good question here. This I cannot answer but I have the Toronto Star of Friday last. When off their political agenda they have some first class reporting. I will try to be brief here and quote extracts from the:

Toronto Star
Page A2. Cathal Kelly
feature writer

" ..... the IAAF has enlisted an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a specialist in internal medicine, a psychologist and a general expert in the effort"

Now the incredible (to me).

"Others, like Indian runner Santhi Soundararajan, may have the XY chromosome, and all the outward appearances of a woman. Soundararajan was stripped of her silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games"

".....this process was first envisioned to keep men masquerading as women from entering atheletic events".

"Test results could take weeks, and then must be analyzed. Follow-up tests could be required"

The writer, quoting Dr Robert McCormack, chief medical officer of Canada's Olympic Teams.