OK, so Semanya Caster is a really good athlete, and she's boyish looking, some would say. This must mean that she is somehow not a woman, according to the athletics officials.
What they mean is, not woman enough. Gender is not this or that. It is a continuum, like everything in nature. Who gets to decide where on that continuum "female" begins? Is female about chromosomes? Is it hormones? Is it physical structure?
I don't see anyone testing male athletes to see if they have an unfair advantage because their bodies produce more testosterone. Maybe they are too "male."
What if she has a chromosomal variation? She should never compete? How silly. Every world class athlete has some kind of variation that makes him/her great, even if it's just uncommon devotion to training. I just keep thinking of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," where we're all handicapped like race horses to be exactly the same.
2 comments:
right on sister
Miz Matrix, I've missed you. The past few years have been times of the interesting variety: I'm just about nearly recovered, the divorce is decreed if not final, and prosecution... er... That my naivete is not yet spent is a notion that brings comfort.
Anyway.
Your tales of 2009 exploits bring the heart much joy.
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