Chell Hill, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
CASTER SEMENYA: RAISING QUESTIONS OF GENDER AS ONLY BINARY
“I AM MOKGADI CASTER SEMENYA. I AM A WOMAN AND I AM FAST.” The former IAAF (now WA) ordered sex verification tests for Semenya in 2009, and she called the incident, “the most profound and humiliating experience of my life.” Although she was cleared a year later to participate in female sporting events, rumors began. The results of her tests were never published but since then she has faced the personal humiliation of medically invasive testing, being constantly misgendered and the continuing scrutiny of the medical community, sports officials, fellow athletes and the media. Semenya was again able to participate in races where she racked up medals, including the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic Games where she won gold medals in the 800m. But in 2018, when the WA announced its new rules regulating testosterone levels, Semenya declared she was going to legally challenge them. “It is not fair. I just want to run naturally, the way I was born,” she said. “I am Mokgadi Caster Semenya. I am a woman and I am fast.” When the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Semenya’s challenge of the new rule in 2019, its immediate implementation caused an international outcry. Though she announced that she would continue to challenge the rule, her ongoing battle took a toll on her, causing her to miss the 2019 World Athletic Championships. About her treatment, she has said: “I've been crucified, I've been done bad. I've been called by names. I've been called by this and that. But at the end of the day I'm still here, am still alive. I am still standing. What I can do best is just to go back there, fight for those who cannot fight for themselves and fight for their right.” Some assert there’s no scientific reason why hyperandrogenism should be treated any differently than other genetic differences that give athletes a performance boost. According to University of Southern California professor Ruth Wood, an expert on hormones, “People who are seven feet tall are favoured [sic] in basketball and we don’t require them to play on their knees.” Another often mentioned example is all-time Olympic gold medal winner, swimmer Michael Phelps who has abnormally large feet and hypermobile ankles that effectively act as flippers plus an unusually long arm span with relatively short legs that reduce drag. Another is sprinter Usain
30 COMPETE march-april 2021
Bolt, winner of eight gold Olympic medals, who has fasttwitch muscle fibers. Semenya’s case has also caused many to note that other elite athletes who dominate their sports, like swimmer Katy Ledecky haven’t been targeted, also raising questions of misogyny and racial bias in the process. Ledecky has none of the physiological advantages of Phelps or Bolt. Based on all her coaches and many of the elite male swimmers she regularly beats in training, “she swims like a man,” often beating her female competitors by a full length. Her “magic” boost really comes from her personal drive and determination. But Ledecky hasn’t received the same scrutiny for her dominating performance as has Semenya. Is that because she’s white, is it because she fits society’s perceived and now outdated ideas about femininity or perhaps both? Whether or not Semenya is finally able to win her case in time for her to defend her Olympic title in the 800m in Tokyo, she certainly has forced people to question the CAS ruling as well as the world’s former understanding of biological sex and gender identity and how you determine it to ensure fair play. This is important for transgender athletes, too. Why? Because unfortunately, most people don’t understand the difference between transgender and intersex; the tendency is for people to mentally lump the two together without understanding the important differences. Visibility is important! During the Tokyo Olympics, any talk about Semenya’s case will hopefully cause viewers to wonder, question or even research if gender really IS binary. Best of all, maybe they’ll get acquainted with a transgender person and discover a personal connection from one human to another. It would be a big step toward taking away the stigmas of being intersex and transgender. As Time Magazine said when naming Semenya one of 2019’s Most Influential People, “Caster Semenya has taught us that sex isn’t always binary, and caused us to question the justness of distributing societal benefits according to ‘male’ and ‘female’ classifications.”
