Caster Semenya and the apartheid of sex

[Butterfly]

Caster Semenya and the apartheid of sex
By Andrea James
21 January, 2010


http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/21/caster-semenya-and-t.html


Xeni asked me to give a brief analysis of  her earlier post on the International Olympic Committee's decision regarding sex tests for athletes like South African sprinter  Caster Semenya. Caster is one of the millions of people in the world who challenge our simplistic male/female sex binary by their very existence.

Most intersex people are unremarkable in appearance; in fact, many people who would be classified as intersex do not even know it.

The only time it becomes an issue is when they are subject to our prevailing reproductive ideology, which organizes the world around procreation. People like Caster are so controversial because they challenge many of the most deeply-held beliefs people have about sex.