Does Caster Semenya have a Y chromosome or not?

You are about 20 years out of date with modern science.

Caster was confirmed to have a Y, and has no womb, no ovaries, has internal testes.

Harrier41 wrote: Caster was confirmed to have a Y, and has no womb, no ovaries, has internal testes.

Harrier41 wrote:

Caster was confirmed to have a Y, and has no womb, no ovaries, has internal testes.

OK, so the biological definition of sex is met. Y chromosome defines the mammalian male. End of discussion. Unbelievable that a Y chromosome is floating around the track as part of the "women's final". Next thing you know men who "feel" like they should have been born women will be granted entry into women's athletic events. A Y chromosome is a bigger advantage in women's running events than any synthetic drug.

It's not that simple as you can get stuff like the SRY gene (testicles etc) move from Y to X as an error and then you are XX with testicles (usually small and sometimes internal) and mostly male characteristics, that is called XX male syndrome. However typically with that you also have male external genitalia so that doesn't seem to be her issue.

I do think she is XY as she has testicles (and I think this was admitted to?) and other than the above syndrome I'm not sure you'll get testicles if XX.

Allegedly the test results were leaked but I haven't seen them so if that's true, someone should post a link

The Y chromosome has not been proven. Stop trying to drag someone down because they are talented and not pretty enough for you. She deserves to be treated with respect.

I got a Y chromosome for ya b'tch

I would bet my entire paycheck that she does

Stop with the juvenile, mean, cruel comments. I hope she wins now just to stand up to all the bigots of the world.

Justice4caster wrote:

Stop with the juvenile, mean, cruel comments. I hope she wins now just to stand up to all the bigots of the world.

I don't really know how claiming she has an advantage is cruel. Let me put it in terms you will understand, and say that she has "male privilege."

Nothing is cruel about discussing the validity of XXY or XY individuals competing with women. Some may throw out demeaning comments but the point here is to discuss. And Caster is XXY. Androgenism is not a universal, it can affect people differently, including how their body responds to testosterone and that isn't all they necessarily have. Caster has the phenotypical male structure, is XXY, has internal testicles, no womb or ovaries, does not have female hormonal cycles, high levels of testosterone, and before she burst on the scene had little training. There is talent there but it is talent in line with state championship level HS males. The reason its a big deal has nothing to do with her rights and everything to do with why we categorize sports separately for women and men. Its not for the men, its for the women.

Harrier41 wrote:

Nothing is cruel about discussing the validity of XXY or XY individuals competing with women. Some may throw out demeaning comments but the point here is to discuss. And Caster is XXY. Androgenism is not a universal, it can affect people differently, including how their body responds to testosterone and that isn't all they necessarily have. Caster has the phenotypical male structure, is XXY, has internal testicles, no womb or ovaries, does not have female hormonal cycles, high levels of testosterone, and before she burst on the scene had little training. There is talent there but it is talent in line with state championship level HS males. The reason its a big deal has nothing to do with her rights and everything to do with why we categorize sports separately for women and men. Its not for the men, its for the women.

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Good points. Honestly, I am not really sure how talented Caster is. I tend to think that she doesn't actually run as fast as she could, for appearances. I think she could/should be running more like a 1:53, which seems more in line with her pr's in the 4 and 15.

Harrier41 wrote:

Nothing is cruel about discussing the validity of XXY or XY individuals competing with women. Some may throw out demeaning comments but the point here is to discuss. And Caster is XXY. Androgenism is not a universal, it can affect people differently, including how their body responds to testosterone and that isn't all they necessarily have. Caster has the phenotypical male structure, is XXY, has internal testicles, no womb or ovaries, does not have female hormonal cycles, high levels of testosterone, and before she burst on the scene had little training. There is talent there but it is talent in line with state championship level HS males. The reason its a big deal has nothing to do with her rights and everything to do with why we categorize sports separately for women and men. Its not for the men, its for the women.

Do you have a source for this? People with Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) are usually unambiguously male.

Justice4caster wrote:

Stop with the juvenile, mean, cruel comments. I hope she wins now just to stand up to all the bigots of the world.

Shut up... you clearly don't GIVE a SH*T about women's rights.

No one is a bigot, she has INTERNAL TESTICLES.... other women DON"T this gives her a distinct advantage over the field without internal ballz!

Justice4caster wrote:

redux wrote:

Obvs she shaves her camel toe and likes to have it on full display!!!

https://instagram.com/p/BJRq-DgBxuf/

So this isn't a cruel comment? Ok

Don't conflate one comment in an open forum with a bulk of reasonable comments, then extrapolate it to say that everyone who isn't on your side is mean and bigoted. The OP's question was a scientific one, not a question regarding social justice. If you don't want to talk about whether someone with internal testes has an athletic advantage, then don't engage. You certainly aren't accomplishing anything by changing the subject and trying to win the argument by your own terms. Well, maybe in your mind you are...

Harrier41 wrote:

The reason its a big deal has nothing to do with her rights and everything to do with why we categorize sports separately for women and men. Its not for the men, its for the women.

Agree. It would be more appropriate to call men's and women's categories "open" and "XX". Drop the gender labels and associated politics.

My guess is that Semenya is XY, born with one of the most common XY birth defects in babies, undescended testicles and underdeveloped male organs. Cheaper and easier in a poor African village to operate so as to turn into a "female", raised as a girl and it only becomes more obvious when the secondary sexual characteristics develop at puberty. Clearly identifies as a male - married long term girlfriend, dressing in tribal male clothing, etc..

My other guess is that these physical defects would be easily cured by surgery (undescended testicles can be relatively easily fixed).

My reason I'm guessing is that the politically correct, career sports administrator wallflowers would rather half the population (female) suffers detriment to their inability to exclude men from womens' races.

Two other men in the womens' 800m final as well, also brought up in poor African villages - Niyonsaba and Wambui.

Not XY wrote:

My guess is that Semenya is XY, born with one of the most common XY birth defects in babies, undescended testicles and underdeveloped male organs. Cheaper and easier in a poor African village to operate so as to turn into a "female", raised as a girl and it only becomes more obvious when the secondary sexual characteristics develop at puberty.

That has nothing to do with a poor African village. That is standard practice for intersex children with ambiguous genitalia in the US and pretty much every country in the world.

We do NOT know that is what happened with Caster. It is a possible scenario, but it is also possible she had normal external female genitalia at birth.

Funny that people haven't mentioned Wambui and Niyonsaba. They clearly were born with a similar condition to that of Semenya. Look at facial features and build and draw your conclusions.