Perspective | Caster Semenya ruling shows how far we have to go in understanding gender

By Jerry Brewer Jerry Brewer Sports columnist Email Bio Follow Columnist May 1 at 12:30 PM In the intricate and emotional case of Caster Semenya, there is no such thing as fair. Her situation vexes traditional sports logic. It challenges the inflexibility of the way we divided athletics long ago: Males are easily defined as males and should compete against other males; and females are easily defined as females and should compete against other females.

On Wednesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against Semenya’s appeal in the landmark case and chose to uphold the International Association of Athletics Federations rule. It took the panel of three judges more than two months to decide, by a 2-1 margin, that the IAAF is right to have a policy targeting the testosterone levels of women in competing at distances ranging from 400 meters to a mile.

Ultimately, this was a decision to protect 99.9 percent of competitors at the expense of the other 0.1 percent. Neither the IAAF nor CAS arrived at it easily. But they thought it was essential, in this situation, to prefer parity in order to promote the sport’s growth and maintain the integrity of competition.

We all accept that our bodies possess differences in athletic abilities. And we’ve always accepted a necessary division of men and women. But we never accounted for biological overlap, and now that gender is more fluid than we realize, the IAAF just wants to force normalcy, even if that never really existed.

For now, we just know this: Semenya lost an appeal during a time in which the sports world is just coming to terms with the DSD dilemma. It could have long-reaching ramifications throughout all levels of sports. But let’s hope, in time and with greater knowledge, we can revisit this policy and our current instincts about DSD.

this is so painful because she never created herself God did

'The “normal” female range, as defined by the IAAF, is below 2 nanomole per liter in the blood, and the normal male range is 7.7 to 29.4 nanomole per liter.' how absurd. Men have such a wide gap while women over 5 nanomole are questioned. Is steroid use OK for men below 7.7?

How the fuck, You must let a transexual run in a women's race?Caster is a man's name, look at her/him,she or whatever,he/she wants to call itself, caster semenya is a man, and should not be in a woman's race,it's unfair to the female specie.Anyone can see that's a transexual.

'But she is considered different because it is believed she has an intersex condition that makes her body naturally produce a high level of testosterone.' Wy do you dance around naming the condition? The condition is called 'having a Y-chromosome.'

You are born with an outy male. Inny female. It's not science rocket.

Fair ruling

We have had places for these people for years they are called circuses.

SexNotGender

She should start her own competition

'How far we have to go in understanding gender' seems a bit over the top. How we handle outliers would be more appropriate. This is not a situation that can be used as justification for generalization. It would not do her justice to do so.

Older but similar case:

What's the testosterone range in women? And men.

That decision is hard to arrive at, yet there could be no other. It would be grossly unfair against all other women who are training just as hard to be dominated by one who has a testosterone booster build in.

Sorry biologically he’s not a women

Disagree with this MISGUIDED ruling!! She is a natural female and should be able to compete as she is!

So are we next going to force runners with long legs or tall basketball players to all get surgery to take inches out of their legs?

Males compete against males. Females compete against females. Sex not gender identity.

She has external female genitals, but has tested, and should be competing with men.

Nope. We understand gender perfectly fine.

She has all girl plumbing on it.

'The ruling shows how far we have to go in understanding gender.' It does no such thing. Wapo is deliberately censoring most of this story. She is just a doper injecting testosterone, but IAAF wont release the results of her tests.

Michelle would be out as well...

It does no such thing. It actually shows how far off the rails we've gone in order to justify ridiculously unscientific gender spectrum theory. This is a woman.

Very tough decision! If I was her competitor, I would switch my event. If I could not switch events, I would be very upset bc if shes in the race, there is no amount of training I could do to work my way to 1.

She is a woman. She has a condition that is described as hyperandrogynous. She does not have testes, though most with this condition do. She has elevated testosterone levels and I think it's unfair to make her take drugs to decrease what is naturally occurring in her body.

No it shows how far we are into 🤡🌎.

Rational, intelligent people understand gender just fine thank you. Both of them.

She has to change who she is in order to compete? I’m not sure what the solution is but I’m not sure if this is the right way to go...

Too much testosterone for women’s sports but not enough for men’s sports?

Gender is quite simple, actually. Oddities in society are causing this mess. They can establish their own sporting events. This is not the first time in history 'transgenderism' has flared up. ageofdecadence

Absolutely ridiculous that men are competing in women’s sporting events . Down right laughable

Liberal Logic: You MUST believe in climate change because it is based on science and science are facts. You can't ignore FACTS. If a person with a penis says they are women you can ignore science and ignore facts.

Sex. Not gender. Sports are classified by sex, and for reasons of biology and fairness.

Man, what hemadphrodites have to go thru 😢

It is hard to understand things that do not exist at all. Studying biology and biochemistry helps a lot in these cases.

And separating it from sex. She is competing in a women’s event, not a female (gender) or feminine (gender expression) event. Sex is the determinative factor.

This dude is a cheater.

As a woman , if i wanted to play on a unisex soccar team , i would not allow hormone manipulation.

Girls have a benis boys have a bagina

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Olympic gold medalist loses gender appeal, casting doubt on futureOlympic gold medalist Caster Semenya loses landmark gender appeal, casting doubt on future competition She can thank the Trans-Invasion for this even being an issue. Let's play What am I. disgraceful on the part of the IAAF
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Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya loses landmark gender appeal, casting doubt on future competitionFemale track star Caster Semenya has lost her appeal in court against a gender ruling that restricts the amount of testosterone female athletes can have in their bodies in order to compete. The South African Semenya, 28, an Olympic gold medallist, was seeking to overturn the 'discriminatory'
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Court says Olympian Caster Semenya, thought to have an intersex condition, cannot compete unless she uses hormone-suppressing drugsThe Court of Arbitration for Sport issued the ruling related to the South African middle-distance runner, who is thought to have an intersex condition that causes her body to produce increased testosterone. The International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body for track and field, had previously instituted rules that precluded Semenya from competing […] If I understand it correctly, Semenya cannot compete *in the female category* sans hormone suppressing drugs. That's the key; the female category is a restricted class. This is such shit. It’s a callback to the days when they didn’t let black women compete in women’s sports. Vagueries. Coffee table books. Conversation pieces. But what is the Critical Point. Not to be mentioned. Bad medicine. I don't see it when or where.
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Women With High Testosterone Will Be Banned From Competing In Some Track Races, A Court RuledSouth African Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya lost her appeal where she challenged the rule as 'discriminatory, unnecessary, unreliable and disproportionate.' So is gender a social construct or not? I really can't keep track at this point. If their testosterone levels are natural....they shouldn't have to suppress them. That might even be dangerous to do so.
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