Hermaphrodite in Track

Finally after being embarrassed in the media for as long as she was, Caster Semenyana has undergone the sex test and been found to have both male and female traits.

While this is obviously a huge issue in the world of sports and especially track, I still can not believe the way US track and field official handled her case. Caster is only 18 years old and has been globally humiliated for being different. Whether or not this young athlete was aware of her sex difference I still believe that there should have been a better way to go about handling such a sensitive issue.

Finally I believe do believe that Caster's difference should be considered when participating at such a high level of athletics, but not deemed "WRONG" seeing that she may not be a victim of transgender athletes, but in fact have a biological uniqueness about her.

The "GIRLY" blog

For this blog I wanted to discuss the concept of femininity and masculinity as it has been discussed in my SM 4250 class.

Ok so the most recent discussion was based off two articles one of which is titled Sport, Masculinity, and Hegemonic Oppression (Anderson, 2005) This article is full of steryotypical behaviors of how "Real Men" should act and think and just be in general. For instance there is a term in this article called "the big wheel" and that men should "be a big wheel" which is described as "... men must be better than and/or be in charge of other men" or "the top dog." While that in itself would be an interesting subject, the subject of this article came from another steryotype in this article that compared men who cry as being a "sissy girl!!"

I found this to be extremely interesting, seeing that crying is a natural human emotion and that it really can not be linked to a specific gender/sex in general. There was alot of discussion on this particular topic, in which many of the men disagreed with the articles view on crying, but only if the man that was crying, was crying if he had won a championship game or any really big/important game in their life. One classmate in particular (whose name I will not mention lol) stated that "I think it's only girly to cry when you win a game rather than loose the game."

I stand firm to the fact that win, loose or draw, crying in a game or in life cannot and should not be considered a feminine trait!! I do however believe that crying in general for anyone (male or female) on a constant basis or over a game or in life is extremely irritating and may affect the way I see that individual, but I would not think that it should have anything to do soley with their gender/sex.

Gender testing and the case of Caster Semenya

So this class is proving to be a very controversial class full of debates about what is morally right and wrong about issues concerning sport and gender. One issue that is bringing forth major publicity and controversy in the media as well as our class is sex testing on athletes. Sex testing is an issue that was introduced back in the 60's at the Mexico City Olympics, when E. Germany athletes were accused of doping practices. In an article that we were to read titled "The Gender Trap" the author stated that "Adolf Hitler wanted to show the world the supremacy of the Aryan race..." which resulted in the forced entry of Dora Ratjen ( a woman), who was born as Hermann Ratjen (a man) with doping practices. I found this to be an extreme form of the effect that gender has on sports, but not completely unusual seeing how important sports are globally.





However, a new issue with sport and gender goes furthur now than human influence on sex/gender such as doping, to make a women more masculine. The focus now is recognizing the fact that there is a such thing as being born with both male and female chromosomes which is termed intersex or more specific - mosaicism. Intersex individuals are rising alot of controversy in the sports world concerning fairness within the competitions.


I believe that fairness is very important in the sports world especially when it is a major sport that involves fame and fortune. I also believe that there are certain cases where sex testing may be necessary, but only when it is done is discretion to the athlete. For instance in the case with Caster Semenya. She has been getting alot of criticism and publicity because her traits are more masculine than women in track has been in the past. The media is in my opinion embaracing her and avoiding the fact that she is simply a great athlete who may have more determination and purpose to race than other athletes which is why she may train harder which results in her winning.


Caster Semenya is a threat to her competition and they have to find an excuse to her athleticism. This question arised in class; "why wasn't this issue brought up before now when she was competing is smaller events?" My answer would be that she is now a threat. You could also say that racism, discrimination, and some more unfair practices may be to blame as well, but had she not risen to her full potential I don't believe that this issue would have been an issue at all.

A solution to this issue that we discussed in class was to just sex test all athletes that way no one is singled out and publicized, which I totally agree with. Although this would be a very expensive procedure, it's not unecessary. I couldn't imagine being in Caster's situation. The global humilation that she has to put up with is alot to bear for anyone and especially for her since she is only 18 years old.

Another solution that I agreed with is to make a co-ed division for most if not all sports. I love this idea, because although it would be complex in ruling/judging, but if fairness is a value in the sports world this is a fair solution so that everyone could participate without the humiliation and invasiveness of sex testing procedures.