Elisha Lianne F.

Almo
10 – Einstein

Reaction Paper about Caster Semenya

“The Problem with Sex Testing in Sports”

Caster Semenya is a South African, track and field Olympic (2016) gold medalist
and a three-time world champion in the women’s 800 meters. Due to her quick rise
to success, sports authorities have raised their suspicions on whether Semenya
was in fact a woman. The combination of her drastic athletic progression and
appearance led to the IAAF asking her to take a sex verification test to confirm if
she was indeed female. Semenya is an intersex cisgender woman, assigned
female at birth, with XY chromosomes and naturally elevated testosterone levels.
The IAAF claims that this gives Semenya an unfair advantage as they link high
testosterone levels to better athletic performance, although it was explained that
there were other physiological and non-physiological factors that can contribute to
an athlete’s performance, so I was quite perplexed as to why they made
testosterone levels the deciding factor to mark her as unqualified.
In 2019, new IAAF rules came into force preventing women such as Semenya that
have differences of sexual development (DSD) from participating in 400m, 800m,
and 1500m events unless they take medication to lower their testosterone levels.
There is no denying that due to her differences of sexual development (DSD),
which has gifted her natural high testosterone levels, has given her body natural
advantages to help her perform, as with how other Olympians have their own
biological advantages, but as I was looking for more information regarding this
issue, other women with disorders resulting in higher than expected levels of
testosterone, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are not required to reduce
their biological advantage. As well as the other athletes that have genetic
mutations that cause an increase in red blood cell mass, and those who have
greater oxygen-carrying capabilities are not required to alter their biological levels.
This shows how the ruling is inconsistent with its treatment of other athletes.
I also think that the ruling was unjust in terms of having Semenya and other
athletes like her to have to be subjected to testosterone-reducing drugs in order
for them to compete. Even if Semenya’s performance were to decline due to the
medications, this could just be because of the side-effects of taking these drugs as
all methods of reducing testosterone involve some risks. Even the World Medical
Association has advised doctors not to administer testosterone-lowering
interventions, describing the regulation as “contrary to international medical ethics
and human rights standards”. As was said in the video by one of the news anchors,
“It is entirely unethical to administer drugs to someone who doesn’t need them.”,
and I completely agree with that statement. The ruling clearly goes against the
values of sport and human rights since this includes the development of an
athlete’s talent yet Semenya is being asked to constrain hers.
I hate the fact that the ruling even goes as far as to justify discrimination. I believe
that no form of discrimination should be justified as it is a disgrace to basic human
morals that which the IAAF and CAS can’t even seem to uphold. The ruling also
states that only those that appear to be suspicious are the ones that need to be
tested which means that deciding who should be tested can depend on an athlete’s
appearance and it might be that non-white athletes like Semenya and Chand are
being selected for testing since they do not fit the stereotypical definition of what a
female should look like. This comes across as kind of racist and contributes to
lookism. I believe that being masculine doesn’t make her any less of a woman, just
as much as a guy being feminine doesn’t make him any less of a man. This ruling
is neither necessary, reasonable nor proportionate. It is simply unjust
discrimination. Yet I love how, even under all the scrutiny she has faced, she still
continues to run and rise above the odds that have tried to slow her down, as she
stands up for the rights of female athletes and inspire young women in South Africa
and around the world so that each one can run naturally, the way they were born.