Is WERKWUHA GETACHEW a genetic male?

The kinds of disorders of male sex development that are an issue in women's elite athletics occur across all populations globally. However, certain ones such as XY 5-ARD - Caster Semenya's DSD - are due to autosomal recessive inheritance, which means they occur at higher than usual rates in populations with patterns of consanguinity.

The particular XY DSDs that athletes in women's track and field have occur at high rates in India, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and amongst Palestinians in Gaza and many other places. But only some countries in sub-Saharan Africa make a point of training XY DSD athletes for the purpose of entering them into international women's elite sports competition.

Yes, many XY DSD athletes from sub-Saharan Africa gravitate towards women's track and field. In part because of the economics and practicalities involved. Obviously, they are not physically well suited for girls' and women's sports like gymnastics, volleyball and netball, and they don't usually have opportunity to engage in aquatics or in any winter sports.

But the participation of XY DSD athletes in women's and girls' competition is not just a major and thorny issue in track and field only. This month, 11 presumably XY DSD athletes from sub-Saharan African countries in the highest ranks of women's international football/soccer were declared ineligible to compete in the Women's African Cup of Nations for not abiding by the Confederation of African Football's regulations pertaining to players in women's football/soccer who have male levels of testosterone.

One country, Zambia, had 4 such athletes on its national women's squad declared ineligible for this reason. Including team captain and star striker Barbara Banda - who became world-famous at last summer's Tokyo Olympics for scoring two hat-tricks at the Games.

Liberalism, wokeness, and SJW all in one sentence. That's three Tucker Carlson points for you! Makes your argument three times stronger than it otherwise would have been.

Yup. I would describe these persons as males who were born with anatomical anomalies that make their outer genitals and urinary apparatus atypical for their sex.

To me, the important factor is that they have male gonads, testes, that are fully-developed and produce normal amounts of T for males. And they have male genetics and male androgen receptors that cause them to respond to the massive amounts of T that their testes produce as males normally do. Their testes might be in the wrong place, but there is nothing wrong with them.

Also, apart from having atypical urogenital anatomy, there is nothing wrong with these athletes. They are robustly healthy persons able to achieve the peak levels of physical fitness that other XY athletes with testes can.

I think.itn s Masilingi of Namibia. ..... Mboma's teammate.

It is possible that they are there but they don't run. I am sure they exist.

There's a least one guy with a small dick in every locker room. They just don't usually enter the women's competition.

I assume these disorders are diagnosed early in western countries, if not at birth, at least during an early checkup. Therefore, these DSD males are less likely to ever identify as women. In poorer Sub-Saharan African countries, if it goes undiagnosed at birth it's likely to go unnoticed until puberty.

You know EXACTLY what you were doing by asking this question. You are a disgrace of a person and should feel ashamed to call yourself a journalist. Get a life. I will see to it to have your press credentials revoked

You are wrong on a specific point. The DSD athletes covered by the rules competing as women are XY, not XXY. Semenya is such. Their testosterone levels are above the limit of 5nml. Hyperandrogenic women do not exceed that level; males do. Such DSD athletes are not women; they identify as women but they are biologically male.

So you intend to have him "cancelled" - if you can. Some of us believe he asked the right question, and tactfully.

I see that Runragged has responded to this point in greater detail.

Yes, but at the age when puberty of adolescence occurs, it becomes very apparent that youngsters with these sorts of DSDs start going through male puberty, not female puberty. They become physically masculinized in the customary ways, and some also undergo significant genital changes. In the Dominican Republic, the nickname for Semenya's DSD translates to "penis at 12."

Most tellingly, they do not show any of the telltale signs of female puberty. They do not get menstrual periods, which normally start at age 11-12. As teenagers, none of them are regarded as candidates for being forced, traded, sold off or kidnapped into marriage and roped into childbearing as minors - which is still the fate of a very large proportion of black girls who grow up poor in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

I find it hard to believe that these athletes reach the age of 17, 18 and beyond without they themselves, their families, their coaches and their friends and communities realizing they are not female.

Inclusion is morally superior to exclusion. Fairness is morally superior to unfairness. So both sides have a moral point, it would be nice to see more synthesis of the views instead of people dismissing the other side's points altogether.

For example, if Getachew met the standards of qualifying for the race without trying to hide anything, we shouldn't complain, but some people might want the standards to become more strict.

honestly it is getting hard to watch. I show the vids of some races to my non track friends and they say 'is that a guy?'. Its clearly not an even field genetically for the girls. Sad state of affairs for women's track and field.

More importantly, she has had an incredible progression. From 9:53 last year to 8:54 this year. Yes, of course she also ran 1:56.6 last year, but that’s a totally different event. She picked up the technique quite fast.

interestingly, her 3000m PB is only 8:41.

I know a lot of guys who can’t run sub 9 in a flat 3000m. Fourth all time.

This was an incredible race. She certainly contributed to it. First and third also ran PBs. She may help bring the women steeplechase to a whole new level (no more 9:20 women making the Olympics)

I wonder why it took so long to discover her. She’s 26 y.o. She was already in her 20s when DSD athletes could still compete without restrictions.

I can’t wait to see how fast she will run in Monaco.

Despite what you say, inclusion is not morally superior to exclusion. Exclusion is a necessary basis to any form of selection criteria, that include weight, age, performance levels and sex. If you don't meet the selection criteria, you aren't included in the event. This is sport across the board.

Although you would wish for a synthesis of the positions on this issue there is a point where this isn't possible. Where is the synthesis possible that enables biological males to compete as women without sacrificing the purpose of having women's sport as a protected category? Nor is this cost to women's sport improved by athletes like Getachew being open about their biological advantage.

Please explain exactly how inclusion of some males in the category of sports established and meant for females is "morally superior" to making/keeping the female category female-only?

It's unfortunate that some males are born with disorders of sex development. But women and girls shouldn't have to forfeit fairness in sports to make males with DSDs feel better about themselves and to give them an easy shot at obtaining sports gold and glory. Women's sports are not consolation prizes for males who had the misfortune to be born with missing or minuscule penises, or who have developed gender identity issues.

But she's in 8:50 shape!!!! Focus on getting under 9 (which she will never do, guaranteed) before making these absurd claims

Reply to last.

The solution for the Trans and DSD issues is the same, and Great Britain Triathlon has figured it out.

One division for XX human beings and another Open Division for everyone else.

It ain't complicated.

The thing is, we need to stop referring to gender, which can be chosen or misidentified, and use chromosomes as the basis for assignment to a division.