Oopsy! Forgot to check for penis.
Despite the fact that her mother, father and coaches insist “she’s all woman”, 18 year old athlete Caster Semenya is facing ‘gender testing’ to see if she’s really all female. The South African runner recently clocked the best time ever for the 800 meter race, globally. And her muscular physique has been the target of speculation (and derision).
The debate has gotten a little nasty, with officials and the press accusing the Semenya team of being absent minded (Oopsy forgot to check for penis?). But it’s not unheard of. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, if it’s true it would be the latest in a string of gender fraud cases. (See Below)
But still it smacks of “I can’t believe I got beat by a *gasp*, girl. Oh wait look at her muscles, girls can’t train that hard. And she’s African. She must have cheated.”
We won’t be surprised whatever happens: Even if she is a hermaphrodite, gender dysphoric, or just a dude in drag, she still beat the world record. The time was the best recorded in the world so far this year by more than a second. She beat the previous female record holder by over 2 seconds.
I suppose if she underwent or is undergoing reassignment, then there would be some questions about performance enhancement due to those drugs. In that case, shouldn’t all the racers be tested?
One of the most famous cases saw female German athlete Dora Ratjen revealed as a man named Hermann following high jump success at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the 1938 European Championships.
The athlete later claimed he had been forced to disguise himself as a female by the Nazi government.
South African runner Caster Semanya to undergo “gender testing”.
