Controversial For All The Wrong Reasons

The 18-year old South African runner, Caster Semenya, was subjected to extensive gender tests following questions regarding her gender.

I am not bothered by whether Caster Semenya is a woman, technically or otherwise. I think it is a hideous invasion of privacy to examine, probe and question a young woman about something so assumed as her very gender; however, there are other aspects that bother me more.

My area of contention is that there is such a strong gut reaction by so many as to what a woman should look like. We have so come to assume that women and men should all look a certain way. In reading the reactions to this incident on the Advocate’s website, I was amazed by the many individuals who, in an almost expert tone, pronounced that certain features of Ms. Semenya held, beyond reason, the definitive answer to the mystery of her gender. One such professor purported that, “. . . the facial featurs (sic) and broudness (sic) of the entire body,” were scientific evidence of her being male (by the way, based on the spelling, I don’t know how much credibility I’d give this self-appointed genetic specialist). The message here; girls are narrow, boys are broad, and both have a very precise set of specific facial and body arrangements. My broad shoulders can mean only one thing – I’d better go get tested lest I be determined not female enough.

I may exaggerate about my broad shoulders, but, truthfully, few would argue that I am a woman. I am very lucky in that no one will ever ask me if I’m in the right bathroom. I am very lucky that no one will ever pick a fight with me or physically assault me over how I look. I consider it misguided privilege that, in addition to the discrimination one faces at being a woman, I don’t have to face the added insult of being discriminated for not being womanly enough. The very same degradation is foisted upon men who do not fit the standards of manliness we as a society have put into place. Regardless of any result of testing, the message here is a desperate attempt to force women and men to conform to a socially-predetermined set of standards into which some of us are bound to not fit, much less are we celebrated for the unique beauty our individual differences bring to the world.

Perhaps they will find out that Caster is a man. Perhaps she’s even hiding the fact and is a man. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is the message and the message is very clear: Women and men must identify with and conform to the rigid societal standards for gender appearance. Is this the kind of world we want to create for our young women and men?