Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.
Voice 2
And I’m Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
In 2009, the World Championships of Track and Field were held in Berlin, Germany. There were many excellent runners. Each runner seemed to make the other runners faster and better. But there was one race people were watching closely. The women’s eight hundred meter run.
Voice 2
People were watching Caster Semenya, from South Africa. She had risen quickly to the highest level of running. People wanted to know how she did it. As the women began the final part of the race, Semenya gained the lead and won by over two seconds. This made more people wonder how she got so good, so fast.
Voice 1
Today’s Spotlight is on Caster Semenya and sex testing. Semenya has short hair. She has a low voice. She has hair on her top lip, above her mouth. And when her running improved quickly, people accused her of really being a man.
Voice 2
At this point we must note the difference between “sex” and “gender.” People often use these words to mean the same thing, but that is not correct. Gender is how a person shows and understands himself or herself. Sex means what kind of sex organs a person has. The issue for Caster Semenya was not her gender, not how she sees herself. The issue was her sex, what sex organs she had.
Voice 1
But why is knowing Caster’s sex important? It is important because in sports, men and women are divided. Men have an advantage because they have more testosterone, a chemical that builds muscle. This is why the best male runners are faster than the best female runners. If Semenya was male, she would have an advantage over female runners. When she won her race by over two seconds, people saw this as confirmation that she was really a man. Running officials made her get several medical tests.
Voice 2
Some people suggested an easy solution to the problem. They said that someone could just look at her sex organs. But deciding someone’s sex is not always that easy. Some people suffer from disorders of sexual development, or DSD.
Voice 1
As a child grows inside its mother, it develops body parts at different times. Babies do not just grow bigger, their body parts also move and change. For example, part of boys’ sex organ, the testes, remain up inside the body until one or two months before birth.
Voice 2
Before a baby is nine weeks old, it could be either a boy or a girl. Many people think that our body’s development plan, our chromosomes, make our sex. But this may be only part of the truth. Dr. Ross Tucker explained this for the website “The Science of Sport.”
Voice 3
“We are all told that if you have two X chromosomes, you are female. If you have an X and a Y chromosome, you are male. But it is often not so simple.”
Voice 1
He explained that all children start out as girls. It is only when a "switch" is turned, like turning on a light, that male sexual development begins. He continues:
Voice 3
“For any number of reasons, sometimes the switch does not work. Or, it works, but there is a problem that prevents it from having its normal effect. So even with the Y chromosome, it can fail to start male development. And so the child continues to develop as a female. The result is that sex organs are unclear. Other physical things can be mixed up as well. These people are called intersex. And it is difficult to know what to do with them when playing in sports.”
Voice 2
So, when someone is intersex, you cannot just look at their sex organs to decide on their sex. Some things about them may be male, and some things may be female. Also, even if someone is intersex, they may still be able to be an athlete. Many intersex people do not get any advantage from their condition. For example, at the 1996 Olympics, six women failed a sex test. The Olympic committee permitted all of them to compete because they did not have any advantage.
Voice 1
We do not know the names of these people because sex testing is usually a very private matter. Unfortunately, Caster Semenya’s testing was only private in some ways. People knew the testing was going on, but they did not know the results. Newspapers and magazines were writing about Semenya. Other athletes were telling her to stop running. Officials from different organizations were trying to manage her image. It was a very difficult time for her.
Voice 2
In November 2009, running officials ruled that Semenya could keep her championship prize and the money she won. However, they refused to release the results of their testing. Dr. Ross Tucker writes that this may not be a problem:
Voice 3
“The issue of what to do with Semenya may not matter. That is because, if the reports are true, and she is intersex, then she would probably need medical treatment. This may make the question of advantages not matter. This situation would be a health issue first, and a sporting issue second. If Semenya has treatment, then the possible advantage will no longer be present. Then she can compete without any question. The necessary medical treatments may remove any debate over how her condition may be helping her.”
Voice 2
In another place, he writes:
Voice 3
“Semenya's life may have been saved as a result of the sex testing process. If she not been an athlete, her condition may never have been found.”
Voice 1
It is important to say again that there has been no official word that Caster Semenya is intersex. As of this writing, she plans to run as a woman. But her case raises an important question for all people. How should we treat intersex people?
Voice 2
Most people have clearly defined sex organs. But one percent of people have some kind of disorder of sexual development. Sex and gender are both important parts of every society. They help us understand how to act in different situations. But when we use someone’s sex to define who they are, we stop seeing the whole person. And no matter what Semenya’s sex, no matter her skills as a runner, she deserves privacy, love, and respect.
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