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South African Officials Lodge Formal Complaint Over Treatment of Caster Semenya

09/15/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The South African Minister for Women and Children has lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations over the treatment of Caster Semenya, the South African athlete at the center of a gender controversy. That Ms Semenya is female in gender does not seem to be a major issue, but there are questions about her physical sex. The bigger issue here is the fact that the entire process has been conducted openly through a variety of very public leaks regarding the information that has been gathered regarding her gender. Most recently, tests conducted with regards to Ms Semenya’s physical sex were leaked. Supposedly, they show that she is intersexed. Prior to that, the fact that her testosterone levels were elevated was leaked to the press.

In point of fact, the entire process of gender testing is not supposed to be in the open at all. It is supposed to be done quietly and privately, a policy that the International Association of Athletic Federations has repeatedly violated. A report on all the tests is supposed to be ready in November, but at this point, the entire report will be known long before that occurs, and the career of a gifted athlete will be ruined as a result.

South African sports minister Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile has threatened World War III if Ms Semenya is banned from the sport. Whether or not Ms Semenya is intersexed should not bar her from competition since even today transpeople are allowed to compete in some sporting events at the international level. In 2004, the International Olympic Committee instituted a policy for all athletes including that “hormone therapy — for the assigned sex — must have been given for long enough to minimize any gender-related advantages in sport competitions, a period that must be at least two years after gonadectomy.” Such a policy should be in place for intersexed individuals as well.