South African World Champion is Both Male and Female

[shorty_37]

She AND he? South African runner Caster Semenya reportedly a hermaphrodite
Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009

MONTREAL - Caster Semenya, the South African runner who won the women's 800-metre event at last month's track and field world championships in Berlin, is a hermaphrodite according to several published reports Thursday.

Reports indicate the International Association of Athletics Federations was preparing to disqualify Semenya, 18, from future events after gender tests uncovered evidence that she has no womb or ovaries, and carries both male and female sexual organs. They will not, however, strip Semenya of the gold medal from Berlin.

Sources involved in the IAAF testing, which involved various scans, said Semenya was found to have internal testes and three times the amount of testosterone that a "normal" female would have.


The sport's governing body, which has not decided whether it will strip Semenya of her 800-metre world championship gold medal, will also advise the runner to seek immediate surgery, believing her condition poses significant health risk.

http://www.chtv.com/ch/cheknews/story.html?id=1980517




Do you think they had the right to demand such testing in the first place?

Do you think she/he should be disqualified or stripped of the Medal because of this?

Do you think they should still be allowed to compete and if so in which division male or female?

Do you think the only way he/she should be able to compete again is if they have surgery done?

Your thoughts.............

 

[PsychoTropicPuppy]

Well, I have to admit that she doesn't look very feminine...

1) Although it may seem discriminatory, she surely evokes at least the feeling that she's been eating tons of hormones. I guess it's not a modus operandi, but then again with all these sex changes, gender identity debacles I'm not too surprised over this course of action.

2) Nah, I don't think so.

3) Depends on the physiological gender aspect that is most developed.

4) No, that would be really extreme. Well, like I said...it should be made dependent of 3).

Anyway, I really wonder how people like her do get along with this issue. I mean...they're basically neither, or both, but then they tend to have neither of the two sexes fully developed, and one tends to be more developed than the other..well..I remember when I saw this docu about hermaphrodites. The things they had to go through. Being forced to pick one gender, or parents deciding instead of them. One said that she felt like...raped. Well, I guess it was since the measures that were used to create her an artificial vagina weren't all too nice....

 

[mike47]

Nature sometimes screws up things and this is a good example of that . A person with both male and female sex organs . Obviously the person in question chose to be a female while others chose to be males . It is a complicated nature mix up and hard to live with . I read that such people have no fertility in their lives.... .

 

[Lori_7]

Do you think they had the right to demand such testing in the first place?

No, I don't think they should be allowed to demand testing, I don't think she should be disqualified, I think she should be able to compete with either gender she chooses (she has a god given right), and she should have surgery only if she wants to. She looks pretty healtht to me, and its her body.

 

[Lori_7]

Nature sometimes screws up things and this is a good example of that . A person with both male and female sex organs . Obviously the person in question chose to be a female while others chose to be males . It is a complicated nature mix up and hard to live with . I read that such people have no fertility in their lives.... .

I would venture to say that the reason it may be hard to live with is because so many people consider it a screw up. Why in gods name should she have to choose to be male or female? To fit in? Why can't she choose to be exactly what she is? A hermaphrodite. A human.

 

[mike47]

I would venture to say that the reason it may be hard to live with is because so many people consider it a screw up. Why in gods name should she have to choose to be male or female? To fit in? Why can't she choose to be exactly what she is? A hermaphrodite. A human.

Having both sex organs makes one wonders which is taking . Some want to be males and some want to be females . A human but not like other humans and that is the problem.... .

 

[PsychoTropicPuppy]

Ehm, I don't really think that the problem is what gender she chooses to be part of. If her testosterone gauge is 3x higher than the one of an average woman then she can build a much bigger muscle mass than her opponents.
A normal woman has around 1/7 of the amount of testosterone a man has.
So, Semenya has around 3/7.

There's a reason why men and women are in separate divisions in certain sport arts, e.g. boxing. And that's where the issue arises...there probably aren't enough hermaphrodites who have sport as their career to create their own division. Besides, it would be completely pointless because one hermaphrodite isn't the same as an other one in terms of hormone production.

I really feel sorry for Semenya though; it was treated very insensitively. I've read a few more articles about her case, and it turns out that this News got only leaked because someone sent a fax to the wrong person...well..what a dubious story, but anyway.

 

[John99]

obviously is int fair because then they would have the men and women competing together.

 

[Lori_7]

Having both sex organs makes one wonders which is taking . Some want to be males and some want to be females . A human but not like other humans and that is the problem.... .

I just don't understand why that's a problem. Why does she have to choose? Why can't she just be who she is? What's wrong with that? She's not conforming to the norm?! Well good! I fucking HATE conformity! I think its awesome that she's different, and everyone should celebrate that.

 

[nietzschefan]

I really feel sorry for Semenya though; it was treated very insensitively. I've read a few more articles about her case, and it turns out that this News got only leaked because someone sent a fax to the wrong person...well..what a dubious story, but anyway.

Bah what does she care, she can <deleted> herself.


Mod warning: Please refrain from using profanities.

 

[mike47]

Nature ca be very cruel and you seem to understand nothing about this topic . Maybe some research about HERMAPHRODITES .

 

[nietzschefan]

Life can be cruel when you don't have a sense of humour.

 

[mike47]

Life can be cruel when you don't have a sense of humour.

Not true at all . Look around you and observe the globe !.

 

[Lori_7]

Nature ca be very cruel and you seem to understand nothing about this topic . Maybe some research about HERMAPHRODITES .

I think our perceptions are much more cruel than nature could ever hope to be.

 

[shorty_37]

No, I don't think they should be allowed to demand testing, I don't think she should be disqualified, I think she should be able to compete with either gender she chooses (she has a god given right), and she should have surgery only if she wants to. She looks pretty healtht to me, and its her body.

I don't know if I think it is fair for her/him to decide what gender she wants to compete with. Don't you think it's unfair for her to compete against women who have far less testosterone than she does?
They obviously couldn't get the same physique she does.


Wouldn't that be like saying they should just have one competition for both men and women to compete in together?

 

[nietzschefan]

Well the way I figure it. They either let her compete with women or create a hermo League.

 

[shorty_37]

I really feel sorry for Semenya though; it was treated very insensitively. I've read a few more articles about her case, and it turns out that this News got only leaked because someone sent a fax to the wrong person...well..what a dubious story, but anyway.

Well the media really don't give a shit what they do to people as long as they get a story. I read that they barely had released the test results when Australian papers were already scream hermaphrodite.

Well the way I figure it. They either let her compete with women or create a hermo League.

I wonder if they will subject others to testing now, because there are quite a few women athletes who could pass for men. Who knows how many others there are out there.

 

[joepistole]

She/he sure looks like a guy to me. I don't know what kind of condition he/she may have that would be life threatening. But it is better discovered now so that something could be done about it. She/he must also be a bit confused and stressed to go through life thinking you are one sex and find out you are not. I cannot imagine the feelings he/she must be having now. But hopefully, he/she is surrounded by good folks with good heads on their shoulders to help he/she through this period.

 

[Orleander]

...I really feel sorry for Semenya though; it was treated very insensitively. I've read a few more articles about her case, and it turns out that this News got only leaked because someone sent a fax to the wrong person...well..what a dubious story, but anyway.

I agree. I care more about this than about what sex she is. All her life she thought she was female then she finds out through the media that she has no uterus or ovaries so she can never have children. Instead she has internal testes. That's a harsh way to find out. So much for medical privacy.

 

[kevinalm]

She/he sure looks like a guy to me. I don't know what kind of condition he/she may have that would be life threatening. But it is better discovered now so that something could be done about it. She/he must also be a bit confused and stressed to go through life thinking you are one sex and find out you are not. I cannot imagine the feelings he/she must be having now. But hopefully, he/she is surrounded by good folks with good heads on their shoulders to help he/she through this period.

IIRC, an undescended (internal) teste is a severe risk for testicular cancer. Something about the internal body temp is too high.