Well, we do not have a rule against making really, really dumb comments. It would take a bit more effort to make this a rules violation.
[ /Modding ]
If it turns out that she is intersexed, and she didn’t know this beforehand, what becomes of her athletic career? Someone mentioned above that this knowledge would allow her “achievements to be ranked properly”, but I’m suspicious that there would be no future achievements as she would no longer be able to compete anywhere. Is there any way that she can have a career as an athlete if it turns out that she fails the gender test?
One has to also keep in mind that she’s just 18. I don’t think that is the prime for female runners.
Huh, I would have thought that making an obviously racist remark as a reply to getting shown up in a debate that has absolutely nothing to do with race would have at least violated the “don’t be a jerk” thing. Oh well. Thanks for the clarification.
The top 3 were 32, 27, and 19 so it’s hard to say. It is accurate to point out she wasn’t close to breaking the record so I don’t think this really applies. If she gets better she might break the record but right now she isn’t in the top ten bracket.
Maybe. But I’m pretty sure that the prime age for runners is mid 20s, which makes her recent victory—and the gap she won by—more noteworthy.
I couldn’t find any data broken down by age but I did see references that the peak age was 25. Is it noteworthy for an 18 year old to make gold without being in the top 10? I have no way of googling this.
In comparing Semenya to the other “women” running the race… I’d say she doesn’t look any more muscular or masculine then any of the others.
There is one thing I noticed. Unlike the other “women” Semenya does not have flowing straight hair, I guess she refused to straighten it and conform to this (racial centric) sign of femininity.
Interesting guess. Any evidence that the other runners’ hairstyles were selected for their femininity? Or that this is relevant to the current debate?
Based on the demography now sure, but what about in 50 years when the procedure is more common and widely available worldwide? Even if only one or two in the whole world did it that’s still the gold and silver in pretty much every event.
No problem with it whatsoever because it doesn’t provide a competitive advantage.
Sorry but no. Even comparing her to other short haired black women who would never be confused for men she looks incredibly masculine.
While acknowledging that appearance isn’t the deciding factor here…
In some photos I suppose one could bend her appearance into the female bin, but after watching this clip she really appears like a man to me. Beside the face, her mannerisms seem more male than female too, though I can’t put my finger on why I think so.
I never wrote that the others selected their hairstyle to be feminine. Most women (even western black women) naturally grow their hair long and straighten it to seem “more feminine.”
That is one of those culturally defined, secondary sex differences we note between males and females. It is also racially based as South African Black women don’t have naturally straight hair. For whatever reason Semenya chose to wear short, non-straighten hair that day.
Outside of the hair (which is not a real secondary sex characteristic), I don’t see how she is any more masculine then the other women. Everyone on that track are highly muscular, have small chests, broad shoulders, tiny hip/waist ratios, etc.
I’m waiting for somebody to point to anything that separates her from the other runners. She chose to wear full shorts instead of a speedo perhaps???
I would think so. If a runner is expected to be in their prime in their mid twenties, I would assume that most records were set by women at that age. If that is true, then her being so dominant at 18 indicates that she might be much more dominant at 25. So, she may very well be on track (ouch) to break all women’s records. Yes, much of this is based on assumptions. Maybe a poster intimate with the sport can weigh in.
She has a really deap voice and maybe it’s a trick of the light but in the video she could use a shave.
You wrote that Semenya “refused to conform” which suggests that the others are conforming. Whereas I think it likely they are selecting their hairstyles for any of the many reasons women everywhere (including Semenya) do.
I think the notion is questionable that females who lack straight flowing hair are unfeminine. I see no evidence that Semenya’s hairstyle is a factor in this issue.
You may be right, but your view seems to be based on limited evidence. Apparently, those who have seen Semenya in person are raising the question.
There’s a vast number of races for those who do not wish to undergo testing: those in which men compete. If someone seeks instead to race in the category restricted to females, it seems reasonable to require willingness to demonstrate qualification.
I had a female friend (well, acquaintance) once, who had basically no chest, little hip-waist ratio, low voice, (but no facial hair and she had girlybits, not danglybits) and she had competed when she was young, but it turned out that she used steroids (her coach gave her “vitamins”) throughout most of puberty, and was disqualified on the college level. Could this be the case? She could have been “damaged” by her coaches by them feeding her steroids, and then just not feeding her the “vitamins” in enough time before the race so that drug tests came negative? I honestly think that she’s a male-looking female, and all the brouhaha will say so, eventually. The fact that her family has gone public with the statements they have tend to convince me that she’s at least an XY female.
In that case shouldn’t she be disqualified for steroid use?
Actually, aren’t XY females (with AIS) very feminine, because testosterone has no effect on them?