Should Gender Identity Matter?
leah
Just came across a pretty upsetting article. 18 yr old South African runner Caster Semenya’s legitimacy as a female competitor is being “very publicly challenged” due to her hormone levels, which apparently show a high level of testosterone. This is neither due to drugs nor genetically modifying attempts for a competitive edge over the other women in her category, but is due to a hormonal imbalance that has resulted in a higher than average level of testosterone. Something the article has declared to mean Semenya is a hermaphrodite. Besides being a completely sensationalist and insensitive article, the fact that Semenya identifies as a female and has decided to live her life as a female does not appear to factor into the pretty huge decisions being made as to her medals and titles.
Should gender identity matter? Where should the debate start and end? How much influence should medical results have and who has the right to determine gender when it comes to competition and hormonal ‘strengths’ or ‘weaknesses’? Would they ever test male competitors for their composition of estrogen? Higher estrogen levels could have adverse affects on males, just as the assumption that high testosterone levels will be of benefit to female athletes. Where is the line to be drawn?!?
