sports stars criticize new IAAF eligibility regulations in support of Caster Semenya

It'll be very dangerous if more mainstream sports figures with no understanding of this issue get vocally involved. Caster is nothing like Michael Phelps and Yao Ming, as she's competing in an arena designed for athletes that don't have the chemical advantages that someone with XY chromosones and testosterone producing testes is born with. Her inclusion in mid distance events is bad for womens sports, not good.

.ugh wrote:

It'll be very dangerous if more mainstream sports figures with no understanding of this issue get vocally involved. Caster is nothing like Michael Phelps and Yao Ming, as she's competing in an arena designed for athletes that don't have the chemical advantages that someone with XY chromosones and testosterone producing testes is born with. Her inclusion in mid distance events is bad for womens sports, not good.

The logic follows though. Michael Phelps wasn't banned from swimming for being too good. It's a difficult subject to talk about and Caster gets a ton of insensitive comments -- I hope we can agree. As of right now there isn't clear data on the situation. How can we agree with the IAAF when they targeted events Semenya competes in. They didn't roll out a plan based on facts and they didn't apply it equally across each event.

Not the same issue at all. Phelps and Ming et al need to concentrate on their own sports. This is not about being superior because of longer arms or stronger backswing. This is about an athlete competing in women's events with undescended testicles and no uterus and much higher testosterone levels. Yes, identified as a female at birth in a small, poor village but correct me if I'm wrong, is not XX. If not willing to lower testosterone then test for sex determination.

Yao Ming was "smart breeding", both his parents were Chinese Olympic basketballers.

Rather than "sports stars", shouldn't it be like "gender equity theorists" or something who criticize this?

academia outpost wrote:

Rather than "sports stars", shouldn't it be like "gender equity theorists" or something who criticize this?

They are sports stars. Just because they're women it doesn't mean that they're not stars and that you can try to cheaply discredit them.

Also @ DupThread this thread showed up an hour before the other LRC one.

My worry is if we keep allowing Semenya and other hermaphrodites, other countries will see that their best chance for medalling is to use hermaphrodite athletes. It won't be just the women's 800, but every event in the sport. Countries like Russia and China will seek out these hermaphrodites at a young age and raise them as athletes. Imagine if in nearly every event we see XX females far back from the medalists. Maybe XX females don't even make the final.

How would you know, .ugh? Caster's results were never publicly released. I find it odd that so many on this board are so quick to judge with no evidence.

I'm a guy, and I think most of the other posters here are guys. I feel it's patently unfair for Semenya to compete against biological women. But do women actually feel this way?

It's usually women who argue that she should be able to compete as a woman, and mention lots of things about women's rights that I think are beside the point. But maybe women would just prefer to run their competitions a different way? I mean, I'm fine with that. As a man, I'm more interested in men's sports, and if women want to run their competitions in a way that I think is silly, who am I to say they can't?