Semenya has 'no womb or ovaries'

[Natasha]

Semenya has 'no womb or ovaries'

http://intersexnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/semenya-has-no-womb-or-ovaries.html
9/10/09

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is ready to disqualify Semenya from future events and advise her to have immediate surgery because her condition carries grave health risks. They have also not ruled out stripping Semenya of her 800m world championships gold medal.

Tests conducted during the world athletics championships in Berlin last month, where Semenya's gender became the subject of heated debate following her victory in the 800m, revealed evidence she is a hermaphrodite, someone with both male and female sexual characteristics.

[Miniar]

horrible way to find out :/

[MaggieB]

Why did they use the term "Hermaphrodite?" It is an outdated term which has not been used for decades in medical parlance? 

[Tank Grrl]

The IAAF said the South Africans knew this already, but still let her compete, hmmm...

[Nero]

horrible way to find out :/

poor girl. 

Why are they still thinking of disqualifying her? She was assigned female at birth, how could she have known?

[Suzy]

That totally sucks!

Kristi

[Zelane]

poor girl. 

Why are they still thinking of disqualifying her? She was assigned female at birth, how could she have known?

Worse case scenario.


So then about her:

Gender: unknown until she says, most probably female.
Sex: intersex NOT hermaphrodite (gah, let that word rest damn it)
Chromosomes: Probably XY
Body type: male (not just masculine, but male)

And thats the problem, I dont know much about sports and I was wondering: How much that her body developed male gives her an advantage over the other competitors? That its the "main" reason why all this test and controversy started.

[Silver]

Male skeletal structure is much more efficient for running and bigger lungs help.

Still don't feel it's right but whatever. Sucks for her.

SilverFang

[finewine]

Presumably if she has no womb, she had no menstrual cycle...that should have been a clue that something was amiss.

Edit: actually, thinking about it, she's only 18 and has been in hard training - so that might not have been such a clue after all.

Nevertheless, I'm dismayed at the prejudice shown against Semenya, there's never any excuse for that.

[sd]

Her coach quit earlier this week, I would bet he knew something was up.

[finewine]

While driving in to work, I heard a surgeon called Chris Inglefield (from a hospital that specializes in GRS) on the radio.  He was claiming that Semenya is genetically male but didn't "virilize" (which he described as "when a fetus fails to properly develop masculine genital anatomy").  I don't know if he's privy to more info than us, as I thought this story was currently an unconfirmed "leak".

The surgeon goes on to say that Semenya has internalized testes which carry a significant risk of cancer and that she needs compassionate care, counselling and assessment - partly for the risks and partly to help her come to terms with her situation and make her own choices.

By the way, he referred to her with the female pronoun throughout.

[Cindy]

Very sad situation. I feel so soory for that poor girl. Hearing all this news from leaks rather than from professional counselling.

If the leaks are true and she has internal testes they will probably need to be removed. I have no knowledge of the chromosome analysis, I presume XX rather than XY because that would have tested pre- competition, I presume?

If that is so, and her testosterone level drops down to the normal female range would she be allowed to compete as female? If the arguement is that she developed more muscle, tone, heart and lung size due to natural causes I think disallowing her from competition to be unfair.

As a comaprison, and I don't mean this as any sort of slur. Lance Armstrong may well have recieved a considerable physical advantage after being on chemo and testosterone during his treatment for testicular cancer.  I'm 100% sure this will not be accepted as a training technique BTW. But he still competes as an International athlete.

My almost final word, I think this is a very sad thing for this young lady. From all accounts she was brought up as female, identifies as female and her mother accepts her as her daughter. Even if she was a bit of a tomboy, so what. Her sexuality has now been broadcasted across the world and no doubt the crappy magazines will have a field day at her expense.


Cindy

Cindy

[finewine]

I completely agree with you, Cindy.  This must be an awful thing to have to go through...and yes, for all we know, it is as much a surprise to her as anyone else!

This poor girl deserves to be treated better - and certainly not made into a "freak show" for a media feeding frenzy.

[tekla]

Sports are a kind of freak show to begin with.  As for the rest, all you have to do is read posts on here about how taking T makes people stronger, and eliminating it from their body makes them weaker.  So it's an advantage.  Had she set a world record by shaving a hundredth or a tenth of a second off it might not have been noticed - but bettering the record by a full second, in a sport that often decided by a tenth of a second, that was going to get noticed big time.   The ruling bodies need to come to some sort of understanding/ruling on intersex, but I don't see them doing it very soon.

[sd]

Her entering this level of competition brings risks.
Her coaches knew that gender testing was a very real and likely scenario, it would not be the first time someone was tested. It is in the contracts/wavers or whatever that you sign upon entering.

There are rumors that she was to have been tested sooner but slipped through cracks in the system. It's like being a pro baseball player and getting annoyed when they ask for a steroids test, you knew it was a possibility that you would be tested. Those crying foul that they tested her are fools. Tops in any field are often subject to tests.

I'm sorry for her, it sucks because she did train hard for this. Now she is a celebrity because of an abnormality. But I suspect she knew at least something was not right. How much she knew is the question, same for her coaches. What she needs now is a good publicist to put a good spin to it and help her become more of an advocate.

[SarahFaceDoom]

So much of this story irks me.

[Julie Marie]

Well, this just proves that anyone who thinks trans folks are making good strides in achieving understanding from the general public is smoking some really good stuff.  This issue has made it to almost every media in the world.

"Oh my god!  She's a man!  Details at 10."

Nobody gives a flying leap what she's gone through.  Nobody cares she didn't dope herself.  Nobody cares this is the way she was born.  The only thing that matters to them is believing she is really a man or just some freak.  It's a great circus side show for them. 

This poor 18 year old kid has to be dragged through the mud because the world is filled with ignorant lemmings who just love a juicy story.  And the unconscionable media is more than happy to make a buck at her expense.

Yeah, it is looking pretty good for anyone who is different, especially when it comes to their gender.  I wonder if Jerry Springer called her.

Julie

[tekla]

All it "proves" Julie is that a whole lot of people care more about sports than other things.  Obama is trying to engage the nation in a debate about health care, we have two wars going on, neither of which are supported, an economy in free fall and what's everyone at work talkign' bout?  Can USC's true freshman quarterback handle the pressure of playing his first road game at The Ohio State University?

[Tank Grrl]

Julie: I thought the media was handling the story quite well, but then again I haven't read every story from every source out there.
I would think that the Intersex Society would use this opportunity to bring attention to the plight of intersex people. But what do I know?

tekla: Yeah, many people care so much about sports that they cannot have a conversation about anything else. It baffles me.

[Virginia87106]

All it "proves" Julie is that a whole lot of people care more about sports than other things.  Obama is trying to engage the nation in a debate about health care, we have two wars going on, neither of which are supported, an economy in free fall and what's everyone at work talkign' bout?  Can USC's true freshman quarterback handle the pressure of playing his first road game at The Ohio State University?

I think it is less stressful to consider the USC quarterback than all the other stuff.