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She was a woman who was always considered a woman, and was treated like a woman as part of the woman's section of the Olympics. However she had to do a sex test when it was discovered she had testes and no uterus and was relabeled a male by the official Olympics committee. She then had a whole media coverage of it as she had to fight to be reconsidered as a woman and be part of the Olympics again as her life had been destroyed. Eventually she won the case and was able to reintegrate back into the competition

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Caster Semenya (Taylor, Cat, Jamie, Charlotte, Jasmine)

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Caster Semenya (Taylor, Cat, Jamie, Charlotte, Jasmine)

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Semenya is an intersex athlete who was told she was undergoing a doping test, and instead was tested for testosterone levels. Her results were in 'male' range and was therefore deemed unable to play. This disregards not only her gender identity but also the natural variations in women's and all peoples' bodies. The news and articles focused hugely on her nature of being 'intersex' instead of just being a woman - something that contrasted greatly with her perception and understanding of herself. It is also inconsistant with other treatments of testosterone increasing conditions. Semenya was required ot take testosterone limiting drugs whilst other women with increased testosterone are not - implying that the issue is not with the hormone levels but the prescense of male traits; perpetuating the idea that being a 'man' gives you an advantage in sports.

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I know this athlete was a South African lady who completed in the Olympics and was discriminated against due to her masculine traits. Due to high testosterone level she  was also criticised about competing in the women’s section, which is completely wrong as she identified as a woman. She had it extremely rough and people ignored the effort she actually put in into winning the 800m sprint. Like I can’t even start to imagine the impact on her mental health when she was integrated for supposed being ‘male.’
There have been both positive and negative responses in regards to her effort of competing as a woman,  however 2019 rules still don’t allow intersex women to compete in certain events, which is a complete violation of human right.

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South African athlete and Olympic champion Caster Semenya is an intersex, cisgender woman born with XY chromosomes. This disease is known as androgen insensitivity (46 XY DSD) and results in naturally elevated testosterone levels. After a victory at the World Championships in 2009, Semenya was forced to withdraw from competitions due to divergence in her sex testing results, and until 2010 was unable to compete. New rules were released in 2019 that prevented intersex women from competing in many events unless they agreed to take testosterone-lowering medication, and Semenya announced in February of 2021 that she would be appealing to the European Court of Human Rights due to such discrimination against her disease.

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Sex isn't as simple to identify or determine as we think. The binary isn't as clear cut and by dividing it, it brings up many more problems than expected. Especially since what we consider "feminine" in western countries is also often correlated with "white" features. In order to fit in to stereotypes of femininity as well it can usually cost a small fortune. These factors and the binary all play into each other to cause massive problems with the sexed binary

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Semenya is cis woman and the facts associated with this case are:
• The media used 'she/her' pronouns when discussing the matter, even after confirmation that she had high testosterone levels.
• This case has largely raised questions of testosterone levels and the biologies of athelets competing in sports. Other notable cases that have followed this are:
1. The issue of transgender people competing in sports;
2. The levels of testosterone in women who have hyperandrogenism;
3. The testing methods conducted on athletes and whether or not these methods are appropriate or even neceessary.
Her ongoing legal case, which is now at the European Court of Human Rights to appeal discriminatory testosterone levels imposed by the IAAF raises several questions from a gender-studies perspective:
How did the IAAF decide on the 'appropriate' levels of testosterone for its female athletetes? How did they go about deciding on this figure, and what steps did they take to elliminate bias in the decision making process? Who decided this figure? What was the scientific process behind deciding on this figure?
In answer to this, the IAAF conducted a single study themselves to reach this figure –– so it was in no way independent, and nor were the the results for the test or process able to be replicated in an independant study - in essence, the IAAF have imposed a sanction that is flawed, not backed by science and is soaked in bias. Semenya is right in pursuing her case at the EoHC.

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Claire - Who has the authority to decide how to define sex? Who are we listening to on this issue? Scientists, governments, the IAAF? Also, who has the authority to decide what an appropriate sex test is?

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Sex isn't an easy topic to define, and is hard to ascribe unto others. To further this, there is no clear cut 'female' ideal as the concept varies depending upon the culture of the individual. To fix this situation, one would have to create a universal female ideal, that spans across cultures, which isnt possible. On top of this, the racist view of female POC being less feminine is a major cause of concern, as if Caster had been a straight, feminine white female who ran faster then the other contestants she would never had been violated by the sex identifying tests.

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Fausto-Sterling reveals the complexities through example, giving arguments through the people who have had to take a stand against the sex binary. She also sheds light on the problems this can cause for everyone by reducing the sexes

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Post-colonial ideas have resulted in huge stigmatisation of multiple or 'complex' gender identities which don't strictly fit a binary. This would have contributed the stigma within her own country. Whilst racism may not have been explicitly been a part of her being barred from events and 'demonised' (for lack of a better word) it definitely contributed to the way in which people judged her. It made people percieve her more harshly and add onto the idea that she was already 'other' - it is almost as though they were looking for a way to barr her from sport by surprise testing her. She would have only been tested likely because she wasn't seen to be 'woman' enough to begin with, which potentially ties into racist stereotypes associated with black women.

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Fausto-Sterling argues that human bodies are far too complex to assign simple binary genders to and that Y chromosome testing is not accurate in defining a person's gender. They also discuss the way in which science and biological studies of gender are actually not as objective as they aim to be, studies are very influenced by the society in which they are performed. The questions asked by the scientists are very influenced by their own views and the way they fit into society.

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1) Fausto-Sterling uses a lot of images in her writing. What do you think/feel about the images in the reading? Do they help us understand the issues?

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2) Did you learn about the biology of sex at school or at uni? What do you remember about what you learnt? Do you find any of the material for this week surprising?

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3) Parents who give birth to a baby who does not fit clearly into conventional understandings of sex can be faced with difficult decisions - about names, about pronouns, and about medical intervention. Can you find any Australian guidance about what should happen? If it were you, what sort of information and help do you think you'd want?

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It is not that simple to define sex based on purely biology. Her chromosomes define her as male yet she has female organs, was raised female and identifies as female. There are clear social influences behind the biology of sex and what makes someone female. In this case, these are White standards she must meet in all aspects such as hormones, physical features and behaviour ('femininity') and identity. This is not only a gender issue but a racial issue, influenced by the social standards of the upper sporting class and the Western location.

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Claire - Semenya herself has expressed disappointment in the fact that she received a significant lack of support from female athletes.

'Once I thought she was cheat. Now I'm sure she belongs in women's athletics.' - Australian athelete Madeleine Pape.

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Caster Semenya (Spencer, Audrey, Maxine)

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Caster Semenya (Spencer, Audrey, Maxine)

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Caster is an intersex athlete, who was told she was given a doping test, was actually having her testosterone levels tested. It is assumed she has XY chromosomes and her testosterone levels are classified as being within the male range. She therefore, has to take blockers to lower her level of testosterone to be eligible to compete in international competition. The media and these organisations shamed and villainised her, and based their decision on the fact that Caster was intersex, but then did not regulate any other athletes who had biological advantages.

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Sex is a complex biological and social spectrum and it can not be easily defined into a binary. We often view sex as two or three distinct categories. However, you can have many different sex characteristics that don't fit with society's binaries. The systems within society are based on and often only work if we are able to place people in certain categories, which isn't possible. To have a completely diverse and inclusive world of sport and competitive competitions, society has to accept that sex is not a binary, but instead a spectrum. International organisations currently regulate people's bodies based on sex, but largely target this regulation on intersex people, but fail to include other individuals who have genetic and biological advantages. Individuals in society cannot be accurately placed into a dichotomy, and the regulation of bodies is strongly based upon outdated codes of gender and heteronormativity.

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Fausto-Sterling discusses gender as a social construct and sex as an element of biological nature, but also explores the idea that sex as the majority understand it is not a complete view of the issue. Sex is not as binary as people believe.

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Something that this story has demonstrated is that people, par

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Fausto Sterling’s works address both biological sex and social concept of sex, however she addresses the fact that socially constructed concepts unfortunately control our thoughts on gender. Her work also illuminates the complexities surrounding sex and sexual identity. She also explores the idea of society’s understanding of sex and how it’s marginally small.