Runner is a 'hermaphrodite'

[JeanGrey]

Source: The Sun

THE controversy over gender row champion runner Caster Semenya deepened today — after reports claimed sex swap tests have shown she is a HERMAPHRODITE.

South African gold-medallist Semenya, 18, has both male and female organs, it was claimed.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2631482/Runner-is-a-hermaphrodite.html

[Ian David]

1. Not a hermaphrodite. A Toyota.

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

[JeanGrey]

11. I should have read the rest of the article. It would seem

her family did know:

The athlete's uncle Lesiba Rammabi, 51, said her relatives were 'very humiliated' by the reports.

He said: "I believe Caster is normal, inside and out.

"What does it matter whether she can have babies or not? Many people cannot have children, why else do parents adopt? Are those women not women also?

"We are a normal family who looked at a child when she was born, saw that she was a girl and raised her as any other family would do. Are we now being told that we are wrong?

"We are very humiliated by what has been said and do not understand how it can be true.

"This is a woman who was raised a female. She will always be female, no matter what people say."

[stray cat]

2. the poor girl - all this publicity

[JeanGrey]

4. True. I feel sorry for her/he there. But I don't think the win is

fair to the other runners.

[tabatha]

9. Yes, but is was not deliberate cheating.

No-one could have known without the tests.

[JeanGrey]

10. I don't think it was deliberate on her part but regardless,

it isn't fair to the other runners. She has a definitive advantage. I wonder about her parents. They should have known or at least suspected this.

[tabatha]

12. Her parents are from a very poor part of South Africa.

They just accepted her as she was. They would not have know anything about not having a womb or ovaries, or having internal testes.

[JeanGrey]

14. Quite possibly that is true. I thought of that after I posted

that response. They are probably poor and uneducated, I wonder what kind of medical care she has had in her life.

[question everything]

5. Agree. At least she can run fast

and not end up in a traveling circus.

[tabatha]

3. I feel so bad for her.

Hopefully, she can have surgery to remove the testes, and continue running - if true.

Another link:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/09/caster-semenya-leaks-begin.html

[JeanGrey]

8. But she has three times the amount of testosterone in her body

as a normal female. I don't see how she can continue running as a girl. I wonder why her parents didn't prepare more for this?

[tabatha]

13. Yes, but you can have three times the average

but still be within range for women.

Apparently the level for men is some 400 times as much.

[JeanGrey]

15. I think it is pretty obvious that she has an unfair

advantage.

[joeybee12]

16. True...but she probably didn't realize she did...

...she should be disqualified, but all around a sad situation, having thought you were a woman all along...it's not like she's in somewhere enlightened where she can get the support she needs to understand all this.

[JeanGrey]

18. It IS a sad situation and there is no doubting that.

I feel horrible for her............

[fishwax]

24. According to the article, her testosterone level is above average but not excessive for a woman

"... urine tests showed that, despite her having higher than average male hormone levels, they are within the official limits for a woman."

[Posteritatis]

6. "reports" "claim" - yawn (nt)

[tabatha]

7. Yes, the link above to The Science of Sports

discusses this in a rational way.

[SouthernDemInAtl]

17. I gotta question.......

.....which locker room does he/she use?

[tabatha]

19. From the OUTSIDE she looks like a woman

The testes are INSIDE, because they have not descended, where no-one can see them.

[JeanGrey]

20. I don't think she looks like a woman from the outside.

I always thought she had more masculine features.

[joeybee12]

21. I think she meant naked....

...the private parts look female.

[JeanGrey]

28. Oh! I see.

[tabatha]

23. The masculinization of her features

is as a result of the testerone pumped out by the internal, unseen, previously unknown-about, testes.

She has both female and male sexual characteristics.

If she has the internal testes removed, she would probably look more like a woman, because her testerone levels would probably be normal.

[JeanGrey]

29. From what I understand she will have to have that removed

anyway, as it is dangerous to retain it.

[TZ]

22. This is what I thought the case would be

This is actually helpful news because these kinds of conditions are often dangerous health wise and knowing this will hopefully help her .......

[IndianaGreen]

25. Intersexed people are part of LGBT community and they suffer discrimination

and often are mutilated as children by overeager surgeons trying to assign sex. Gender identity is hardwire in the brain regardless of one's sexual characteristics.

I am offended by this so-called "scandal."

[maxsolomon]

26. But you're not shocked by it, are you?

Odds are, this was bound to happen eventually, and now we'll see how enlightened the international community currently is. I don't expect much.

[joeybee12]

27. The woman comes from a backwards village in South africa...she probably

grew up thinking she was female...her testes are internal...I don't know if I'd call it a scandal, but it's a tragedy, because she's always believed she was female...it does give her an unfair advantage, and her medals need to go back.

[tabatha]

31. Actually, I think the ASA messed it up.

I think it is probably a big education for all people in South Africa, especially those who are not educated (through no fault of their own) about the fact that gender/sex is not always cut and dried.

Perhaps, it will make those who try to "reform" a lesbian by raping them, realize that there is more to it than what they know.

Perhaps, it will also educate people in this country who think that being "gay" is a choice. It is absolutely not.

Everything in this world is a matter of statistics - mostly a bell-shaped curve, where the most probable gender (or most characteristics) is normal, but there are always people who fall either to the left or the right of the most probable.

[LisaL]

30. From what I gather even as a child she wasn't a "girly girl."

She was described as sort of a "tomboy" in the articles I've read.
I guess we will have to wait for the official results.