Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I was a little shocked after reading about this topic. First of all, I think the testing goes against her rights as a human being and is an extreme invasion of privacy. I can't imagine how it would feel to have my sexual identity questioned in front of the entire world. I don't know how this could be considered cheating either- she was raised female and doesn't know anything different. She didn't ask to be born with internal testes. And I feel like if she would have looked like more of a "girly-girl" athlete she would have never even been questioned in the first place- which is really sad. Why do female athletes have to "feminize" themselves in order to avoid fem tests and labels that get thrown out just because they don't fit the standard woman's profile of today's society? I don't think she cheated, I don't think she deserves to have records removed, and I think that she should be able to continue racing as a female. She was born and raised female and doesn't know anything different- and she shouldn't have to.
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I think you make a good argument Maddie. I think it is probably a safe bet, that she was really unaware of having internal testes, and given that she grew up in a more rural area, we are not 100% sure the kind of medical treatment she has received throughout her whole life, that may or may not have picked up on this. Also, as disappointing as it is to think about, I think it also may be a safe bet to assume that if she looked more "feminine" then this might have been a different story.
ReplyDeleteEven if she was unaware, it shouldn't really matter. I do feel sorry for Semenya because this humiliating. However, the fact that you think she should be allowed to continue running in female races is something i disagree with. Every racer she has competed against tried just as hard as she did, and they have a right to run the race fairly. Even if Semenya didn't know, we know now that she has internal testes. So, Maddie, I'm sorry if I offend you with this comment, but she has a clear advantage, and it is not fair if Semenya is allowed to continue to run with women, because statistically their times are not as fast, and she will dominate every race, unfairly.
ReplyDeleteI'm not offended at all it's nice to hear someone else's opinion. My question is should she be allowed to run with men or should she just not be allowed to participate because she was born with extra internal parts? If she would run with men, would she be at their level? It makes me wonder whether she would even agree to run with men or not because I feel like the humiliation/shock/whatever she's feeling about the situation would be a little too much to handle... Just a few things to think about.
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