We’ve been talking a lot about Caster Semenya—and I've been thinking a lot about her—so I thought I’d post links to the pages we looked at in class.
HHMI’s BioInteractive—Gender Testing of Female Athletes
BBC—Gordon Farquhar blog: Semenya’s sex test explained
David Zirin interviewed on MSNBC about gender testing: "MSNBC Exposes Our 'Twisted, Sexist, Racist, & Heteronormative' Track & Field History"
YouTube: “Caster Semenya … is a MAN?!”
Also, Qua from the 11am section sent me this link, which shows the “feminizing” of Semenya:
Embattled Track Star Caster Semenya Gets New Coach, New Look
If Caster Semenya had larger breasts and "dressed up" more, would people have wondered whether she was "really female"?
I’ve been talking with folks about this whole “scandal,” and one conversation turned to Serena Williams. No one questions whether she’s female, but why? I think it boils down to 2 things: (1) she has what I'll call "noticeable" breasts and (2) she chooses to code herself as female via the hairstyles, clothes, etc. she wears. If she were more flat-chested and didn’t adorn herself in “female” hairstyles, clothing, makeup, jewelry, etc., would people be wondering the same thing about her?
And ... is that an offensive question? If so—to address our topic of interconnected identity—and given what David Zirin said about the history of female Black athletes being considered "not female enough" (his word is "hermaphroditic")—is it offensive because of gender, or race, or both?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I don't think it should be considered offensive if a woman is mistaken for a man, just as it should be offensive for boys to be called girls. This is just people pointing out that a certain person is different than they're "supposed" to be, thereby making it terrible to be different. If intersex people were a more noticed and acknowledged part of society, would these supposed insults still be as prominent? to go even farther, would girls and boys be separated like they are so often growing up? Would there be girl's dodgeball, boy's dodgeball, and intersex dodgeball? Or would everyone just play together, according to skill?
ReplyDelete