Home > Opinion > Bonnie Erbe > Runner Caster Semenya and Family Should Understand Gender Questions

Bonnie Erbe

Runner Caster Semenya and Family Should Understand Gender Questions

August 21, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The strange and getting stranger case of Caster Semenya has sprung some incredible tangents. In an online video, her father says he is offended by international sports experts' efforts to prove she is a biological female, even though she looks and talks like a man. While objecting to his daughter's gender tests, he also told the Guardian online:

"Her structure and physique is like that of a man you can see, she is built like me exactly like me."

So why is he objecting to other people questioning her apparently male attributes? My question is, if her build is obviously male, and her relatives are saying as a child she played football with boys and wore pants, why was she raised as a female?

I understand why parents might raise a biological boy who identifies female as a female (the New York Times had a fabulous article about this several years back and I wrote columns on it at the time). But I do not understand why they would then be angry at the world for questioning her gender when she then used her obvious biological advantage to compete in the sports world, whether as an amateur or professional.

The furor erupted after the 18-year-old Ms. Semenya won a gold medal in track at a world meet in Berlin.

Caster Semenya, 18, is undergoing a gender test to prove she is female after beating her rivals by a huge margin to win the gold medal in the world championship 800 metres in Berlin.

Family, friends and teachers at her home in South Africa recalled how Semenya played football with boys, wore trousers instead of skirts and endured teasing by her peers. But all asserted that she is definitely a woman.

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hotels in kleinarl of 7:27PM April 23, 2010

First of all, it shouldn't even be called "gender test" it ought to be referred to as "sex" because there is a major difference between the two terms for they signify different things that are definitely related, however unfortunately, used interchangeably.
Your confusion about father's response needs to take in consideration cultural gender beliefs - ones that you may not understand or know about - that exist in her small home town.
As reported by France 24 news, in the traditional ways of her home town, when a child is born, the sex of the infant is determined by way of simple visual examination. They are then announced by the family to the entire village/community as to what the name of the child is and his or her's sex - boy or girl. The issue with this method of determination - which the rest of the world was wrapped up with when this controversy erupted as well - is insufficient to determine an individual's sex! For there are plenty of abnormalities (and I use that word questioningly for what is normal female or male sex and what is abnormal?) that are required to determine so called "true" sex (if such a thing exists).
The father is so offended because the requirement to test further is insulting to their cultural norm - there is no space for gray areas in her culture's view, there is only female or male. Yet this perpetuates, quite unfortunately, the gender binaries that exist.
Ah, this is all such a muddled controversy, despite responding to this in hindsight! You say her build is "obviously" male - no it is "masculine". But what is wrong with having a woman who is strong and muscular? The same thing that is wrong with a man that is scrawny, weak and timid. Here lies, in this controversy, an issue of our acceptance of certain gender binaries. We associate certain masculine attributes with males (that being the sex) only and there is no room, within the accepted norm, for a masculine woman. The same goes vice versa.
Is it such a problem that Semenya played soccer as a young girl, or wore pants? Is it such a problem that some men wear skirts and love fashion instead of sports? Again, it is an issue of "abnormalities" in terms of culturally constructed gender binaries.
After all, what is it to be a woman? What is it to be man? We must review not only our methods of classifying what is male and female, because there is a huge range between those two extremes and within the range lies an abundance of different arrangements; and also, what is accepted in terms of gender constructions.
Caster Semenya is not the only case where this arose. What about the Indian track star that ran in Qatar in 2006? The speculations that have been laid are unfortunate and disgusting, not to mention eternally damaging!
Indeed, officials were careless in her situation, and the controversy was only sped up by the jealous and upset mouths of competitors, as well as the issue of race by often ignorant people. But the issue at the end is not really her sex or gender. The true issue is perception of gender binaries and the limits they impose on humanity.

Jenny of NY 6:31PM January 24, 2010

The web is inundated with indignation over this whole situation. My question would be,"Do all these angry people have access to information that the rest of us don't?" For without comprehensive testing, no one can validate the sex (not gender) of another person. So who is the shame on? Is it on all the female competitors that have reached the International level of competition through hard work with no assistance of additional testosterone? Is it on the IAAF for trying to maintain a level playing field for ALL athletes? Is it on the ASA for lying about test results that were done months ago? Or is it on people so ready to defend someone at all costs that they have a blatant disregard for the obvious. The obvious being, facial hair, male body shape, male voice and lack of female body cycles. On a more factual note, if the leaked results of Casters tests are true, she is not a hermaphrodite. Hermaphrodites possess complete male and female genetalia. By the way, I agree that everyone has a right to their own opinion, however, I have more respect for those that are backed up by a proper name and residence.

Marla Hewitt of OK 4:13PM September 21, 2009

Runner Caster Semenya and Family Should Understand Gender Questions

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