I'm not a dude... just a really ugly chick!
Jake Farr-Wharton 6 comments
Caster Semenya, the embroiled athlete who caused the world to stare at her crotch, has returned an abnormally high testosterone result in the face of allegations that she not a she.
After watching Semenya obliterate the competition and world record in the IAAF 800meter world championships last week, one can’t help but question whether she’s hiding a banana in her lunchbox…
She utterly decimated her competition, winning by a massive margin, however it wasn’t her incredible performance that brought suspicion down on her, it was an abnormally high testosterone level.
Upon hearing of the injustice, the International Intersex Organisation (IIO) launched a human rights violation case with the UN Commission of Human Rights. Which raised an interesting question; assuming the wild assumptions were incorrect and Semenya was verified as being female, she may still be ‘Intersex’.
What this means is that she might not have the traditional chromosome pairing of XX or XY, but something altogether different. She may, for all intents and purposes, possess the genitalia of a female, be classed as a female, and compete as a female. Yet she may also have a pair of man-berries hiding out somewhere inside her, providing her with a great deal more testosterone than other female athletes.
While the results of ‘gender verification testing’ are still some time away, I would like to pose the following question:
Scenario:
A beautiful baby girl is born. She grows up to become an international athlete. Unbeknownst to her, she is ‘Intersex’ and has a pair of testes residing beside her ovaries. She never sees them, has no cause to suspect their existence, but inadvertently has a much higher testosterone rate than all other female athletes in the world.
Once the elevated testosterone is discovered and she is subjected to a gender verification test, her ‘natural advantage’ is discovered. The testes do actually provide what some athletes would call an ‘unnatural advantage’.
Should she be allowed to compete against all the other athletes in her chosen sport?
I watched as Semenya competed in the 800 meter finals and it was phenomenal. I wish her the greatest luck and hope she has the strength to make it through this trying time.
Storm
Thursday 27th August 2009 | 04:52 PM
man-berries rofl!
I'd never heard of this 'condition' before, but although she may not have either. I thought I`d check out some stuff about steroids:
Anabolic steroids are synthetic analogs of the male hormone testosterone. They promote muscle growth, increase lean body mass, and stimulate fat loss.
Are they banned in sports?
Most sports’ federations including the International Olympic committee (IOC) have added them to their list of banned substances and test for them during competition and at random during the off-season. Athletes, however, are usually one step ahead of testers and many still manage to beat drug tests.
Who Takes Them And Why?
The media would have us believe that they are a bodybuilding problem. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Virtually everyone from amateur and professional athletes to teenagers and models, use steroids to increase their strength and muscle size, as well as to decrease body fat percentages and improve their looks. And their use is not confined to males, as professional and amateur female athletes in such sports as track and field, swimming, and bodybuilding use them as well.
I think if she has extra testosterone then she's competing unfairly. Otherwise... bring back the Chinese swimmers!
btw I thought she looked ok and everyone was picking on her just because she was a lean mean muscly machine. But then I heard her talk on the news and she's nearly in the running with James Earl Jones for a voice.
Ben
Saturday 29th August 2009 | 05:42 AMIf she has balls then she has an unfair advantage because of the natural testosterone production. How could there possibly be any debate required?
Jake Farr-Wharton
Monday 31st August 2009 | 07:16 AM...in response to this comment by Ben. Quite simply if she is a female, has all the reproductive bits of a female, but also has a set of internal testes (which is occasionally what happens with some intersex people) then it is fair. It is not her fault, she may not even know...
Dave VB
Saturday 12th September 2009 | 07:08 AMHermaphrodite. I wonder how that will be handelled?
dobbo996
Saturday 26th September 2009 | 07:44 PMI sympathise with her situation, I really do, but her performance at the world championships was like, well, watching a male athlete taking on a bunch of women athletes. She was hardly trying and squished them horribly. Did you see the glares they were all giving her after the race? And given the, erm, unusual level of testosterone showing up in tests, they may have a point. On balance, I don't think she can continue to race as a female athlete - the performance gulf is too wide.
Joe Marco
Tuesday 25th August 2009 | 12:59 PMThis might be a more common occurring condition than we think. I guess such a thing makes sense. I recall many women who I have known over the years, have said on occasion that they have balls. They probably meant it and I just thought that they were being Ironic...
No but seriously....This could be the first step of an androgynous/ Hermaphroditic sub-set of homo-sapiens.