I disagree with the decision to let Semenya and Chand compete
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Anonymous
| I feel if you have testicles, you should compete against other athletes with testicles... |
Anonymous
| sex is a spectrum |
Anonymous
No it isn't. But op it's really not her fault she was born with higher than normal levels of testosterone. She is still primarily female. She wasn't born with a penis so I'm perfectly okay with her running with the ladies than the men. |
Anonymous
Semenya Castor wasn't born with testicles. She may be intersex or she may just have naturally high levels of testosterone. She has undergone extensive medical testing, but the results are private. (As they should be.) |
Anonymous
Np. Actually, it is. There are genetic abnormalities that make someone have a chromosome combination other than XX or XY. Some (few) people are born with other chromosomal combinations. The way I look at it, is that anyone competing on the Olympic level is a genetic abnormality to begin with. They ALL have some level of genetic boost that the rest of us don't have. Being intersex is one of those. Semenya has internal testes, but how was she supposed to know that?? It's not her fault, and it's not as though she's competing dishonestly. And she takes hormones to help reduce testosterone levels. No matter which way you look at it, none of the athletes are competing at the same level as regular Joe or Jane or I. They're all kind of freaks of nature. |
Anonymous
Gender is a spectrum Sex is what your genetics and your genitalia and reproductive organs say it is. Most people are one or the other. Some kids are born intersex with traits of each. The best practice is now considered to leave them be and let them tell you what gender they are when they are old enough to tell you. You can then begin treatment to make their external genitalia match their gender identity. Some people feel like they are one gender on the inside but are a different sex on the outside. They are transsexuals. |
Anonymous
She doesn't take hormones anymore. That rule was over-turned. It has never been stated that she has internal testes. Her medical records are private and she hasn't said. |
Anonymous
| Why not disallow freakishly tall people from playing basketball or freakishly tiny people from gymnastic because they have a genetic advantage, too? |
Anonymous
Gender is a spectrum. |
Anonymous
Both are spectrums. You can change your gender, but you cannot change your sex. But both are not explicitly binary. |
Anonymous
I think you just described a spectrum (or since genetics and organs aren't linear, at the very least a Venn diagram). |
Anonymous
My best friend is intersex. She was born and assigned male and after extensive testing, is known to be XXY. She is male by birth. Her sex is male. Her sex is not on a spectrum. Her gender is female. She is female. Sex is binary. Even amongst the intersex, cisgender and transgender we have male and female for sex. For gender we have a multitude of options (and many which are undefined). |
Anonymous
That didn't stay private. The test results were leaked, and she does have internal testes. She was not the only intersex athlete to compete at the London games or the Rio games. Apparently, they coerced four of the women in the London games to have surgery. |
Anonymous
She does have internal/undescended testicles. Even NBC discussed it openly on its coverage of her winning race. Her testosterone level is 3 x higher than the women she is competing against, which is why she can more easily build muscle. |
Anonymous
| Did they win ? |