If Caster Were Your Child

The parents of Caster Semenya themselves deserve gold medals. They were the picture of poise and dignity in the face of this controversy that has thrown their daughter into one of the most humiliating public scandals in recent memory. They should have been enjoying their daughter's moment of triumph and instead, have been catapulted into the cruelest of spotlights. If it were my daughter, I would be inconsolable.

After Ms. Semenya won by the largest margin in 800 meter competition history, the IAAF confirmed that they were conducting gender tests on the eighteen year-old running phenomenon. These tests - with gynecologists, endocrinologists, geneticists, and psychologists - are now public knowledge, but the shame should not be on Ms. Semenya, but on the IAAF, who have mortified her before they have a conclusion. One hopes that the results of this battery of tests will not be revealed in piecemeal press releases. The girl has suffered enough and the damage - sure to get worse - is already permanent. Let's hope this poor child will not spend the rest of her life as a punchline. Every flat-chested girl? Caster. Every tomboy? Caster. Every woman with biceps? Caster. The woman at the bar with a too-low voice? Caster. It is very unfair, and it could and should have been avoided.

Whether or not the testing reveals a genetic abnormality, her reported pain at being whisked away following her victory certainly sounds like any child's reaction to being hurt or embarrassed. Who would have been prepared to come out and face the cameras under those circumstances? This must have devastated her family, who has watched her run, train, persevere, and according to some relatives, be teased for looking like a boy all her life. If she had come in last, no one would have bothered to interview the parents for any reason; nor, one assumes, would the IAAF have announced the suspicions regarding her gender at all.

In separate interviews with British television, both Ms. Semenya's mother and father maintained that their daughter is, yes, female. Her mother, speaking to a BBC reporter, waved away the official challenge to her gender with simple statements - "She is a girl," and "I gave birth to that girl." Although it was a scoop of sorts, the reporter was clearly uncomfortable by the line of questioning. Sometimes the news organization needs the soundbite, and the mother's patience in delivering it (and obvious pride in her daughter) make it compelling television. But you had to squirm for the interviewer, who must have dreaded having to ask a woman to confirm the sex of her child.

As reported by the New York Times, Leonard Chuene, president of the South African athletics federation, said when interviewed, "I am offended. I feel what the parents are feeling. I feel what this child is going through." So do I. To hold a press conference on doping is one thing. To subject an eighteen year old to a public embarrassment on the intimate details of her biology are another. The fact that she comes from a remote village with dirt roads in northern South Africa are beside the point. Parents are parents, and as a mother, I would have liked sports' ruling bodies to have protected this child better.

Comments

[Tshepiso Molefi]

"I think the most poignant aspect of the article is the demonstration of class by Caster's parents juxtaposed to the classlessness of everyone else around this issue."

I just heard an audio clip of Semenya's father, Jacob, addressing this issue, and he refers to Semenya as "he" or "him" every time during the interview, and even says "he's a girl, and the whole time he's been a girl," and also that he "never doubted" she was a girl. Some truly bizarre stuff. He sounded pretty flustered to be honest.

The reason for this is because in our native african languages, there is no given word for he/she as in the English language, there is no gender classification in that regard, and you will find most africans, when speaking English, will confuse the two words he/she him/her and use them interchangeably.

[demfriend]

This is not a drug issue where someone should resort to testing to find out if they "used". This is a personal issue about who this person is through and through. She is a female who looks like any one who doesn't have female features to "suit" the world's ideal. This is so sad as their are men who look like women who would never be dragged around asked by the world to drop drawers for them to prove anything! I am ashamed of those who would take this and the embarrassment this poor woman faces for what she doesn' like"enough like" what "THEY" want her to look like and shove it where the sun never shines and I hope they suffer for it. Who determines the "look" of anyone and what satisfies the world? It is a very sad time for this lady and her family to be dragged like this center stage to satisfy some voyeur tendences of those asking for their own "look see"!

[ModernTimes1]

Modiba, head of the Nthema Secondary School, from where Semenya graduated last year: added: " It was only in Grade 11 that I realised she's a girl."
In an interview with South Africa's Beeld newspaper, Modiba explained that Semenya wore the male version of the uniform at school - the yellow shirts and grey pants. All the other girls wear reddish-brown skirts and yellow shirts."

Is it proof? Of course not.

Is Caster's appearance enough to warrant an investigation in a sport ripe with athlete fraud? Absolutely.

[llisa]

I have had several female students in my classes over the years who preferred to dress "butch".

[llisa]

And, if dresses and skirts are the requirement for the girls while boys get to be comfortable in pants, I would, too.

[ModernTimes1]

A: IAAF made a SERIOUS error of judgment in announcing the challenge before it was actually administered.
The battery of tests should be administered quietly preserving the dignity of the individual involved.
B: IAAF has an absolute and unquestioned right to examine the gender of an athlete and his/her eligibility.

[llisa]

But, to what degree? Down to the cellular level? Really? Then shouldn't they do that to every competitor?

[been2there]

As a dedicated "hellion tomboy" I shall count it an honor to be called "Caster."

[llisa]

In my opinion, you shall.

[jmayweather]

Anyone remember Maria Mutola, she does not have the classic European look that we have unfortunately equated to beauty. But dorminated the 800 for years. When I look at some of the european runners they are pretty muscular.

How dare the sports federations put this child through this, I sincerely pray it 's proven that she is a female, but most importantly I hope this does not destroy this young person.

Will we now have to take our children through a battery of supposely "expert" tests before their gender is placed on their birth certificates and/or passports.? Does anyone, including science really have the final say so on who is male or female.
Will anyone demand that the Russian and Italian athelete, plus the world media give this young lady a public apology when and if it proven that they are wrong?
Who will pay for the public humilation?

[jonshende]

So a portion of the athletic world is in uproar over the 800m win of Caster Semenya.According to some, she is not really a girl- seriously?!, that's the best they could come up with? no synthetic drug doping this, but rather it's mother nature on trial?

I spent part of my youth in the same region as Usain Bolt and where we come from, if someone looks like a woman has two natural mammary glands (or enhanced cosmetically) is born with ovaries and a birth canal then she is a woman. Chemically we all have varying degrees of natural hormones and elements, food, climate and genetics will affect our makeup.

What metrics are they testing her against,is there a chart or an ISO standard?

President Leonard Chuene said "Semenya is facing intense scrutiny about her gender ans was humiliated"
Who wouldn't be, if it was my child,I would be annoyed to say the least and my first instinct would be to protect my child's feelings, as I am sure every citizen of South Africa feels. It's really interesting that in these situations one of the first things we hear the subterranean rumble of racial prejudice, come on get over it already! if you want to speak of athletic superiority I think the prize is in the picture!

Tiger Woods faced odds, the Williams sisters faced the same and US Basketball had stresses in the 70's.

http://gratis-liberty.blogspot.com/2009/08/caster-semenya-gender-test-huh.html

[Ann Leary - Huffpost Blogger]

It's awful what happened to Caster but it sounds like she has a wonderfully supportive family. Too bad she can't enjoy her victory.

[tel8034]

South Africa has suffered this type of humiliation before with Sarah Baartman who in 1810 was taken to England and then to France, where she was paraded as a freak in a human circus, because of he unsusual features.

After her death in 1815, the French government displayed her skeleton, preserved genitals, and brain in a museum until 1974. In 1994 President Mandela petitioned the French Government to return her remains to South Africa, and after years of wrangling, her remains were finally returned in 2002, and she was finally laid to rest in her homeland.

Venus and Serena Williams have dominated tennis since their first appearance in the nineties. Despite being champions many times over, they are still not given the respect that their accomplishment should merit, due in large part to their race and gender.............

Words like "menacing" “threatening” and “aggressive” are often associated with Serena.

A person of color must be an overachiever to be understood as successful......... Summa cum laude Princeton University graduate Michelle Obama, was not considered socially acceptable until she was constructed as a modern-day black Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. This is particularly jarring when we consider that at the time that Jackie O was First Lady, her only “social achievement” was marrying into the Kennedy family.

WHEN WILL ALL THIS END?......­......Unti­l we can divorce ourselves from the idea that race and gender provide grounds to demean, or otherwise oppress, we will never achieve a post-racial or post-feminist world.

[natturnerx]

well, i dont think we should get ahead of the facts, whatever they turn out to be. of course this should have been settled in private w/o unnecessary embarassment to m(s or r) semenya, but this is the internet/cablenews age & its just a fact of life that nothing will ever really be private again. if testing proves by objective criteria that caster is female, then the athletic community owes her an apology as public as her humiliation was. if caster is objectively male, then it is unfair to the other competitors for him to run in female competitions. but, the very fact that they have to resort to some complicated test indicates that caster probably falls on the borderline. if thats the case, then precedent indicates that she gets to choose (google: "renee richards"), but unfortunately, there may be an asterick beside her records.

[llisa]

I think this is an awful thing to do publicly to anybody. To do it to a young woman right after her moment of triumph is even worse.

Where will we draw the line? Can lesbians still compete with straight women? Will we need to have separate categories for every chromosome combination in addition to men's and women's divisions? Will every winner (or competitor) now be gene tested?

[hijumper]

I feel so bad for this girl. South Africa should be proud.

[medardo]

Thanks for pointing out specifically why this is being handled in a sickening way. But no surprise athletic committees are usually made up of invertebrates who bend to any outside pressure that may come their way. Perhaps they should just make all athletes pull their pants down before each race. Or, should it just be the winners after each race. Though there may be something said for nipping things in the bud---so to speak. Speaking of buds, Mr. Selig is a good example of spinelessly checking into things way too late, after some pressure. Major League baseball would never care about a second string shortstop taking steroids, and certainly didn't care when steroids gave CPR to baseball in the late nineties, BUT he was as shocked as the french officer in Casablanca, shocked, at the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs. Ms. Semenya ran a great 800, won by a wide margin, but didn't, thank god, bust any records, otherwise they could be setting up asterisk committees as we speak. I think the most poignant aspect of the article is the demonstration of class by Caster's parents juxtaposed to the classlessness of everyone else around this issue. If it were my daughter, and their were questions about the fashion and shape of her body, that created this humiliating situation, I would ask the committee members to parade themselves and their wives out naked and see if they all fit tightly into their gender's expectations. But I digress.....

[Trusty72]

"I think the most poignant aspect of the article is the demonstration of class by Caster's parents juxtaposed to the classlessness of everyone else around this issue."

I just heard an audio clip of Semenya's father, Jacob, addressing this issue, and he refers to Semenya as "he" or "him" every time during the interview, and even says "he's a girl, and the whole time he's been a girl," and also that he "never doubted" she was a girl. Some truly bizarre stuff. He sounded pretty flustered to be honest.

[Marcia DeSanctis - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Trusty, Thanks for commenting. The video clip I was referring to can be found at guardian.co.uk, and it was conducted in the father's native tongue, probably Northern Sotho.

[jarofmilk]

Yes, indeed. This story greatly saddens me, too.

[setman]

The fact of the matter is that this has been a controversy for a while. Semenya has only been on the international scene for less than a year, but there were questions in SA going back 2 -3 years ago. The South African athletics federation should have gotten in front of this issue. They ignored their responsibility. As one of their representatives has said. "We pulled down her pants and checked. What more do you want us to do?" If they had shown the due diligence and done the testing ahead of time, they could have spared her and her family this kind of international exposure and humiliation.

[Mortifyd]

Why should anyone have to pull their pants down to prove what their parents, govenment and hometown already know? Gender is not always as simply as innie and outie bits - and more than that, there are plenty of cases when the bits don't match the genetics. XO, XXX, XXY - the world is a wonderfully diverse place. The insensitivity of people questioning a young person's gender and shaming her for being successful is disgusting.

[setman]

It isn't a question of sensitivity. It is a question of basic fairness to all other competitors. And yes the testing is not a simple physiological one. There are endocrinologists, physiologists, psychologists, and other experts. It is a complex issue. But it is one that should not have taken place in front of the entire world. The South African sports federation had been hearing allegations for years before she had ever competed internationally. That indicates to me that other competitors in SA were voicing the same concerns. This should have been resolved before now. But the SA sports federations tried to laugh it off as a joke.