Um..what??

Status
Not open for further replies.
V

ViragoBry

Joined
Oct 2, 2008
Messages
1,007
Location
Dallas, TX
How hard could this test be?

BERLIN (AP)—A day after winning her first 800-meter world title amid a gender test controversy, South African teenager Caster Semenya’s father dismissed any speculation his daughter is not a woman.

The 18-year-old runner’s father, Jacob, tells the Sowetan newspaper: “she is my little girl. … I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times.”

Semenya dominated her rivals to win the 800 on Wednesday despite revelations that surfaced earlier in the day that she was undergoing a gender verification test because of concerns she does not meet the requirements to compete as a woman.

The medal ceremony for the 800 is later Thursday.
 
The line between male and female is not as distinct as most people would like to believe.

Some people happen to be born with hormonal irregularities that make them look like the opposite sex. From a biological perspective, it's the same as being born to be tall or short, or to have big or small hands.
 
The question is, how do you define the genders? I would think that the most accurate method would be genetic testing.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Maybe she is one of those people with an extra sex chromosome?

Those disorders wouldn't cause someone to look like the opposite sex.
 
I wonder if the article misused the word gender. Someone can be anatomically female and not be a woman.

If she were possibly using testosterone, would they be able to detect it when they test for doping?
 
You'd be surprised what a few hormones and such can do, especially early on in a person's development. Even if someone is genetically male or female, the practical reality might be much different.
 
I didn't say it's equivalent. What I meant was, the underlying biological mechanisms are similar. The results, especially the social and psychological ones, are obviously another matter.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Loobed


Sex should be determined by either the X or Y chromosome.


I think you mean sex should be determined by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system

Now, if there is a situation where there is something other than either an XX or XY then that's where things get confusing, but often in those situations there are problems that go beyond normal sex phenotype to mental issues and other physical deformities. XXY or XYY is not equal to dude-looks-like-a-lady-syndrome, it would go deeper than that.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom