What makes 'HER' female?
Sunday | September 6, 2009
Heather Little-White, Ph.D., Contributor
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090906/out/out7.html (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090906/out/out7.html)
The controversy over Caster Semenya, who won the 800-metre race in the recent World Championships in Athletics, in Berlin, Germany, and the request by the authorities for a gender verification, brings into sharp focus the elements of the human sexes.
One common stereotyped assessment of male versus female by the common man is penis equals male and no penis equals females. Later, add breasts to better define females at first glance compared to men. Facial features and voice further help to identify the sexes.
This has been a long-standing discussion in athletic competition for decades. I think if the answer were something so simple you could just sum it up in a pithy phrase, as lot of us wouldn't be here.