Mishmash Musings

Now I believe I’ve heard everything. I just read that the IAAF, the international regulatory body of track and field sporting events, has decided to subject a South African athlete to extensive gender tests. The athlete in question is Caster Semenya, a teenage girl who some people claim might in fact be a boy.

What’s the basis of these claims? Well, Caster is muscular, is significantly faster than other girls her age, and speaks with a “deep voice”.

Here’s what IAAF’s Nick Davies had to say about the matter:

this is a “medical issue, not an issue of cheating.” He said the “extremely complex” testing has begun. The process requires a physical medical evaluation and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist and gender expert.

Hmm. That seems like quite a lot to prove whether someone is a male or female. Wouldn’t it be easier and faster to, um, look at the genital region???

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Check It Out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.