Chaze wrote:
Our current male and female categories suggest an outdated "correct" and "incorrect" form to people that do not fit neatly into those categories. Do these people have no place in sport because they are not male or female? That doesn't sound right to me. It's the categories that need to be reformed, not the athletes. Semaenya is a tremendous athlete, regardless of our classifications. If our categories can't recognize that, I would argue that they're broken.
Semenya is not a tremendous athlete. Semenya runs at the level of a good high schooler. Would you suggest a boy running 1:54, was an elite athlete? That is what its like, because Semenya has a Y chromosome! Semenya is capable of running 1:44, not 1:54. Why is this, the Y chromosome Semenya carries! Semenya runs as a woman because it requires less training and slower running. Any half decent male college runner could run the times to get in the women's olympic trials, not an accomplishment for a man. Semenya has a y chromosome, but running times slightly faster than women, who by nature lack y chromosomes is a tremendous achievement, just because Semenya decided to compete as a woman? Its like saying transgender athletes who won state championships in the US are great athletes rather than just better than average male athletes. Look, someone can live how they want and decide their gender, I respect that. Even chose to be called a woman or man. However, because it is so uncommon for people without Y chromosomes to live as men and people with Y chromosomes to live as women, sport must be protected on the basis of sex! Poor Semenya? No, poor all the women who've compete against her and been robbed of sponsorships, prize money, podium finishes, finals, etc. because their sex, their very genetics don't allow them to run as fast as someone with a Y chromosome and the testosterone levels resultant.
Its a shame more intersex people don't chose to compete at a high level in sport. Then there might be a place for Semenya. Very few people are intersex, I've seen studies that say as high as 1.7%. If you only had 1.7% of the pro runners competing, there wouldn't be enough to make running a global sport, so Caster Semenya will never have a league that she can be challenged in. Its a cruel world we live in. I think Semenya should be allowed to compete against men, but ultimately because of her intersex characteristics that allow her to run way faster than any woman, yet not as fast as elite men, she will only be competing against herself. If she finds meaning in bettering her own best times, that may be rewarding. But it may be that she has to do this while undergoing employment in another field, unless some sponsor finds it worth putting money towards.