Is Anyone "100 Percent Female"?
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I want to echo Hanna’s sense of ambivalence about Caster Semanya, the South African runner who may have to stop competing against those deemed unambiguously female. It does seem like gender ambiguity is among the few natural advantages that violate our sense of equity in competition. Maybe it’s not quite fair that Semanya’s opponents will be up against someone with a genetic advantage. But Lance Armstrong’s heart happens to be 1/3 bigger than the average male heart. Is this fair to the regularly-heart-sized guys up against him? Nobody suggests that he ought to be disqualified, or perhaps forced to compete only against people with freakishly sized hearts.
The difference is that gender, as opposed to heart size, is one of the ways we traditionally demarcate classes of people we want to see compete with one another. It’s pretty clearly in the interest of those of us clustered on one side of the gender continuum to support that demarcation. We don’t want Serena Williams to have to forego a tennis career because she doesn’t stack up against Roger Federer. It’s also inevitable that women who are similar to men by some physiological measures, but not on the “wrong” side of some arbitrary male/female line, are going to dominate games based on speed and strength.
These distinctions all seem somewhat random and arbitrary, but at the end of the day most sports just require submission to an arbitrary system of rules. We’re trying to create conditions of perfect competition among people with radically different bodies. Caster Semanya reminds us of just how impossible that is.
Photograph of Caster Semenya by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.
Kerry Howley is a contributing editor at Reason Magazine and an Arts Fellow at the University of Iowa's literary nonfiction program.
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By: bagel | Tue, 09/15/2009 - 11:39
"Why not get some opinions from female atheletes who have to compete against this person?"
Riiiight, cause they'll be totally unbiased, not motivated at all by their own desire to not get beaten by her anymore. Sheesh.
So she has testes and no
By: you know it is | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:24
So she has testes and no uterus and no ovaries. Big deal. If that was enough to disqualify someone from competing in women's sports, then you'd have to exclude all men.
Hey, wait a second...
Armchair quarterbacking is worthless
By: Bo | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:15
I can't believe a comment dragged in Jamie Lee Curtis.
With no uterus, she's not had a menstrual cycle, which should have tipped off someone in her family or her coach.
And anyone who thinks Lance Armstrong's heart is what gives him an advantage is woefully (and perhaps willfully) naive.
Why not get some opinions from female atheletes who have to compete against this person? Opinions of the desk-bound are pretty much worthless.
Testosterone is also produced
By: TeeJayUK | Mon, 09/14/2009 - 07:02
Testosterone is also produced in ovaries and adrenal glands and the level varies from person to person.
advantages
By: veeb | Fri, 09/11/2009 - 15:09
I would argue that many successful female athletes likely have elevated levels of testosterone, compared to average levels of testosterone in women. Caster is technically a hermaphrodite, meaning she has more than elevated levels of testosterone. But does the mere presence of testes mean it's unfair for her to participate? If it were simply an issue of testosterone levels - even if it were potentially "unfair" - she would still be allowed to compete. What are a couple undescended testes?
After all, Ms. Jamie Lee Curtis is probably the most famous (and alluring) technical hermaphrodite. Is she not allowed to compete with other actresses for "Best Actress"? In her case, having more testosterone probably hindered her performances in some ways... but for the case of argument it stands.
It all goes back to her phyisical appearance. Ms. Semanya never would have been tested if she simply looked more feminine to the Western eye. So, should Ms. Semanya be allowed to compete against women? I don't know.
Re: Human Jai Alaight Reel
By: arkb | Fri, 09/11/2009 - 15:09
Have you been paying attention to the argument at all? Gender is not black and white, their are many shades of grey.
Caster doesn't just have a "genetic advantage"
By: Human Jai Alaig... | Fri, 09/11/2009 - 14:49
She has male sex organs, pumping testosterone into her muscles and making them bigger and stronger than her female opponents'. A "genetic advantage" would be a constellation of genes that give a female athlete a naturally elevated level of testosterone despite the fact the she lacks male testes. Ms. Semenya's unusual physiology gives her a decidedly unfair advantage in her class of competition - that class being female athletes. I don't see how any of these gender distinctions are all that "arbitrary." Putting athletes into classes based on the color of uniform they wear is arbitrary. Putting them into classes based on sex organs that have a direct effect on the amount of performance-enhancing hormones they produce is not.