IAAF will be consulting with medical experts on gender verification

AUTHORITIES are subjecting the 800-metre world champion South African teenager, Caster Semenya, to a “sex test.” Could she be a he? And why is that such a difficult question to answer? Why can’t the authorities simply consult the Book of Genesis which religious fundamentalist “experts” say could provide us with the answer to what they think is the simplest of questions?

No word is coming from our local sex “experts”, those who loudly profess that their God created just male and female genders. Of course, in the real world, human bodies are not that simple.

Scientific researchers say sexual characteristics go beyond genitals, having female or male sex organs is not always the surest way to determine gender. The balance of hormones must be factored in, including the possibility of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Real experts know that there are people who are inter-sexed, in that they are biologically neither female nor male.  Other people may be born as hermaphrodites, having both male and female sex organs. Exercising free will, being sinful or the devil running interference has nothing to do with these genetic conditions.

News reports say that previous gender testing turned up several athletes who were born with genetic defects that made them appear to have manly characteristics. In 1967, the Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska was barred from the sport because she failed a chromosomal test, even though she had passed a nude test a year earlier. In the 1980s, the Spanish hurdler Maria José Martínez Patino was disqualified because tests revealed that she was born with a Y chromosome. Patino had no idea that she was genetically part male.

“It’s very difficult to define what is a man and what is a woman at this point,” says Christine McGinn, a plastic surgeon who specializes in transgender medicine.

Because of a range of genetic conditions, people who look like women may have a Y chromosome, while people who look like men may not, she said. Many times, the people do not learn of the genetic difference until they reach adulthood. “It gets really complicated very quickly,” McGinn said.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will not be consulting the Book of Genesis or any fundamentalist pastors in their gender verification programme; instead they will be consulting an endocrinologist, gynecologist, internal medicine specialist, and a psychologist.
JUSTIN de FREITAS.

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