There has been a recent controversy over gender within International track and field, that I am having a hard time wrapping my head around. This week our goal is try to shed some more light on this story through discussions with each other. On August 20th South African runner Caster Semenya was asked to take a gender test based on concerns she did not fit the requirements to compete as a woman. After receiving the results it was found that she has internal testes that she was unaware of, it has yet to be determined her ability to compete in the future. What I am wondering is this fair? Would a male athlete ever be subject to the same sort of controversy? Was this a form of cheating? How might the area where she grew up have an impact on this issue? Should she compete against males or females? Would we have asked for a gender test if she looked differently? These are just some of the questions to consider when writing your response.
I have also included some links about the story that may help you, if you are unfamiliar with the story.
I personally do not think this is fair. I think that inequality is playing a huge part in this instance. I do not see the problem with her competing in the future or as she already is. I believe she should be able to compete as a "women" in women's sports unless in some way her "testes" influence her performance. Even with this in mind, I still believe that she should be able to compete in women's sports because men are not discriminated in the same way and this is unfair testing. How could her testes play a vital role in her ability to play a sport? I do not find this logical or ethical. She obviously had no previous understanding of this and she was pinpointed only because she did extremely well. I find this ridiculous and extremely skewed from the reality of sport and who should play.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure what to think about the overall fairness of this whole situation. On one hand they asked her to take a gender test, based on what exact specifications I'm not sure. That being said though they did find that she had internal testes therefore i think that the tests are justified. I think it is also unfortunate that she does not know which makes me feel that this is unfair to disable her from competing in future events.
ReplyDeleteI agree with anthony i dont know what to think about the fairness in this situation. I don't think this would happen to a male athlete because usually males are better than females in track. So i think that if this situation was flipped around and happened to a male it wouldn't be a big deal. Which makes it unfair to Caster. I don't think this is cheating because she didn't know she had internal testes. I think she should still compete against females because she is a female and its not like she tried to have a gender change. She was born with this disability. So she shouldn't be punished for it.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question from emily with her having testes in side it is a bigger advantage then some might think. She is able to produce t much more testosterone as a normal girl. Which in running helps out a lot. She is able to get stronger and be able to recover better.
ReplyDeleteDo i think this is a form of cheating not at all. She didn't know she was doing it. She has gone her whole life thinking she was a girl and now just finds out that she has testes. I don't know how you would be able to put that as cheating. Now what Nik asked if she looked different would the people still have asked. Truthfully I think if she looked more like a girl as people think. Meaning has the characteristics of one then i don't think she would have been tested. Its not like she broke any records or anything like that. It was that she had short hair and was much more muscular then the other girls. I don't think male athletes would ever be a subject to the same sort of controversy as if they were a girl. Because it is known that men are faster and stronger then a women so if a guy was to perform at there level they would just be looked at as not as good as the men. I do feel that men get tested more for steroids then girls. Are looked at more when they do great things that they must be on steroids or some sort of enhancement. They don't have the gender issue but I feel they have using drug enhancements more. Which in a way just as bad if not worse.
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