I disagree - Edit 1
Before modification by Сталин at 11/09/2009 04:10:35 PM
The point of competitive sports is to allow people to show that their talent, their drive and their spirit can conquer adversity. To allow Semenya to keep the gold medal does a disservice to every woman who participated in that event.
Semenya is a hermaphrodite, not a woman. If we are simply talking about social interaction and gender identity, Semenya can choose a gender and stay with it. If Semenya wants to identify as a woman, then "she" is free to do so regardless of biology. She can have further surgery if she feels it necessary.
However, we aren't talking about simple matters of gender identity. We are talking about (1) a birth condition that her parents were likely aware of, (2) a physiological advantage that is a disqualifying factor by the rules of the competition and (3) at least an inference that someone, somewhere knew or should have known that this might have been a factor yet chose to conceal it.
Semenya is a hermaphrodite, not a woman. If we are simply talking about social interaction and gender identity, Semenya can choose a gender and stay with it. If Semenya wants to identify as a woman, then "she" is free to do so regardless of biology. She can have further surgery if she feels it necessary.
However, we aren't talking about simple matters of gender identity. We are talking about (1) a birth condition that her parents were likely aware of, (2) a physiological advantage that is a disqualifying factor by the rules of the competition and (3) at least an inference that someone, somewhere knew or should have known that this might have been a factor yet chose to conceal it.
On one hand, yes she did have an "advantage", but it was an unintentional advantage that she could not help.
From what it sounds like, it does NOT sound like she has external male organs. Her ovaries simply improperly differentiated and became testes that I would presume did not drop (I'm sure she would have noticed). Thus we can conclude that the only way she'd know she had a problem was hormonal imbalance symptoms, but there are tons of ways for these to manifest with hermaphroditism being rather low on the likely condition list.
The only way she could have prevented this was if she knew and had the testi-ovaries removed. This would prevent the outpouring of testosterone. If she did not know, then she quite simply did not cheat. Even if she did know, it's a gray area as to if she was cheating.
I say let her keep the championship.
From what it sounds like, it does NOT sound like she has external male organs. Her ovaries simply improperly differentiated and became testes that I would presume did not drop (I'm sure she would have noticed). Thus we can conclude that the only way she'd know she had a problem was hormonal imbalance symptoms, but there are tons of ways for these to manifest with hermaphroditism being rather low on the likely condition list.
The only way she could have prevented this was if she knew and had the testi-ovaries removed. This would prevent the outpouring of testosterone. If she did not know, then she quite simply did not cheat. Even if she did know, it's a gray area as to if she was cheating.
I say let her keep the championship.