Once upon a time, a child was born to happy parents in Masehlong, in the Limpopo province, northern South Africa. As a young child, Caster Semenya understood she was different from the other girls. While the other petite girls were relishing their new socks at preschool, Caster was already the high jump champion in the neighbouring primary school. By the time she reached high school, she was the wrestling champion, the sprint champion and she even took on the boys’ tug-of-war team and won. The local newspaper even covered the story.
Semenya was not uninterested in boys. She liked that cute lad Sibusiso in school, but when he suddenly groped her one afternoon in an open field, Semenya’s knee-jerk reaction was to flatten his nose and break two of his ribs. She didn’t mean to, but he was weak. All the boys seemed weak, even weaker than the girls, except the boys were always “acting” strong and important and dangerous. Semenya understood, especially when the local pastor’s son asked what Snoop Doggy Dogg was doing in a dress at a birthday party that her chances at the Miss Universe pageant were always going to be slim. Instead the bright youngster discovered that she could run like a bat out of hell and followed her dream of becoming an athletic star.
It wasn’t long before Semenya was chosen to represent South Africa and her fairytale sports story continued as she went to Berlin for the World Athletics Championship. Her strong physique and powerful technique raised eyebrows from the start. She conquered the 800m race, winning by a mammoth margin; an incredible 2.45 seconds ahead of the runner-up and the former world champion. Everyone was happy. Even Helen Zille managed a smile from flooded Cape Town. But then like all Grimm stories, there was a twist in the tale.
The IAAF officials were stunned. They looked at each other in shock.
South African athletes can hardly make it from the hotel to the track on time, how did this woman make it to the finals and win without breaking a sweat?
They looked at her closely, and some of the male IAAF officials realised that Semenya’s biceps were bigger than their puny legs, but when one of them saw some facial hair on the spunky athlete, they looked at each other and nodded their heads with a wry smile.
This is the same athlete who refused to provide sexual favours before the tournament.
“She couldn’t be female,” they remarked, and she wasn’t allowed a victory lap.
“Hold the she-male,” they cried. “Take her to the gallows!”
“Until we know her status, she is not to meet with the media!” they called out.
Little did we know, the sinister IAAF masterminds had checked out Caster’s Spartan calves even before the competition and had decided to conduct a gender test to clarify if the un-pretty athlete was really just an average-looking bloke inside.
Meanwhile, as the tests were sent to the laboratory for results, an endocrinologist, gynaecologist, internal medicine expert, expert on gender and psychologist were roped in and placed on standby to deal with “the situation”.
Now these are big words for a fairytale so let me explain at least one of them.
An endocrinologist sounds like a doctor who fondles dinosaurs but they are really just harmless hormone scientists who specialise in, well, wait, let me just check Wikipedia … deviant hormones and other internal human structures that you won’t need to know about unless you get into med school. So these evil IAAF people, knowing that Semenya has a vagina, ask the specialists to find out if she has an overflow of male testosterone that makes her think of sex every 30 seconds (ie like a man). If that is proven, the evil men say “then we need to get that crappy medal back”.
But to sound like good people, the IAAF was kind enough to bring in the psychologist.
Her job is to ensure that no matter what gender Semenya turns out to be following the test, Semenya is to be made to feel handsome or beautiful.
But Semenya sits in chains in a five-star hotel room, soaking in the contradiction of her disposition. Finally reaching the summit of her career and yet at the depths of her personal life, she awaits to be told if she herself is really the man she has waited for all her life.
But back home in South Africa, millions gather and strategise her escape from the throngs of indignity.
News of her imprisonment moves the population into rethinking their world.
Women stop visiting the beautician and let their facial hair grow. Beauty magazines are trashed and make-up bottles flushed down toilets. Advertising agencies are given ultimatums to halt the inferiority complex industry or face immediate closure. Men look for depth, rejecting airbrushed FHM lasses and tell their partners that they are worth it without the heels, make-up and push-up bra. Daughters are told that weight-lifting is as accessible as netball. Boys are taught that cooking is as cool as football.
Women reconcile with their vastly different bodies, their looks and people begin to look beyond what people are supposedly meant to look like.
No matter what the verdict, the IAAF can’t hurt Semenya now.
Semenya returns home a hero and a heroine.
The End.
Bravo Azad. the IAAF should hang their collective heads in shame.
Do you think they would have questioned her if she lost?
great article azad!
Regardless of how convenient it may be for the usual suspects to politicise this issue, the fact remains that it is up to the IAAF to ensure that all athletes compete without an unfair advantage (such as steroids, for example – something with which Semenya’s doctor/coach has been associated fyi – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/6078171/World-Athletics-Caster-Semenya-tests-show-high-testosterone-levels.html). Why should they avoid asking awkward questions just because it is politically incorrect to do so? This is not about gender politics, or conforming to accepted standards of femininity, it is about fair competition. And for the IAAF not to have investigated would have been irresponsible.
what a cool article..i was wondering what all this was about, now i know..
Wowww!!!! Now this is soo true. Besides to me she is a human being before she is anything, and she should have been treated with the dignity that a human being deserves.
But I’ve got to say, you have to love South Africa, things that are said in Office Parks, by our fellow citizens, just goes to show how divided a nation we are.
Azzad, this would have been a good article except you make it seem as though her gender is indeed doubtful when in fact it is as clear as the light of day that SHE is FEMALE not androgynous or male. Trust me, if she was a man trying to pass for a woman, she would have atleast taken the trouble to LOOK FEMININE but she looks tomboyish because sheis secure in her femininity and thinks that is cool at this stage. It is also wrong of you to say she’s “un-pretty”. She is just a child and a beutiful child at that. I understand there are cultural differences between you two that might make you have a certain idea of what constitutes beauty.
I do, however, think that the racism charges by the likes of Malema are unwarranted and over-the-top.
I’m glad you stressed that a lot of women have facial hair. Audrey TAtou has facial hair. Britain’s Jennifer Meadows has facial hair, my God, so many women shave their moustances on a daily basis.
It is indeed sexist to say that if a woman performs so spectacularly she must be a man (as one woman commented).
Brilliant Azad…wickedly witty writing, its what I’ve come to expect from you.
Caster, you rock. We are proud of you.
And to the men out there..we can do anything…better!!!!!!
Plz show me pic of Audrey Tatou with facial hair? I have never seen her with it…ever!
Man, this is a “bandwagon” article if ever there was one! So why do you skip the long years of her humiliation BY SA OFFICIALS? Caster’s fellow women athletes – before anyone else – would have insisted Caster be tested. And they have the right to request that. The IAAF have to protect all women against unfair competition. Why are you “protecting” one, not all? Cheap shot article. SA Athletics officials have boobed, but all anger is directed against IAAF officials – Why?
Great piece of writing Azad. However the use of the word unpretty signifies some degree of shallowness from your side. Define pretty? It is incorrect of you to place judgement on Caster’s looks. Firstly, let us understand this- Caster was not running 800m beauty race! it was a 800m women’s race for crying out loud! What does her looks have to do with anything? I respect you but i think you overstepped there a bit.
@ Phillipa and Sandile
With regard to your responses about Caster being called un-pretty, i think that you are not reading the adjective in context of the article. The way I see it is that Azad’s choice of word is merely in keeping with the idea of a fairytale – think of Cinderella in her rags – she’s never depicted as being beautiful before some fairygodmother comes to rescue her, right? Also, the very choice of the word un-pretty is a criticism against society’s ideals of beauty. And Den, this is the very reason you haven’t seen Audrey with facial hair before. It’s supposedly un-pretty, y’know…
Anyway, I would love to see you convince Elle and Cosmopolitan and the like to have Caster on the front covers of their next issues.
hello all, thanks for the comments.
@Tlanchtau yes, treated with dignity as all humans, athletes and shoprite cashiers deserve to.
@Phillipa & Sandile: “unpretty”
She is only “unpretty” in relation to something that has been created by us. if you look at the end of the story, there is no make-up or beauty magazines or advertising to make us, or her or anybody feel “unpretty”. She is not “unpretty” per se. At the end the confluted comparison has been annihilated. This is the point of the jarring descriptions in the first half of the article.
We need to stop standardizing prettiness or femininity. Yes, she is an athlete, and looks dont matter. But wait a second, her looks and her strenght do matter, and this is why they are wondering about her gender in the first place. This is what this is about isnt it?
@peter ess: i am sorry if you feel this is a bandwagon article. I really thought I had something to add to the debate. I must admit I dont like international sporting bodies. They usually aren’t very nice, kind or considerate.
and about Audrey Tatou, I think Amelie was overrated anyway.
Brilliantly written azad. Your witty style seem to make all your articles fun to read. But we have read all this before. Yes. She does not fit the stereotype of ‘woman’ and ‘beautiful’. Yes. We need to re-evaluate our perception of certain things. Yes yes yes..
The case of the man behind the woman’s gold medal has happened before. The scenario was possible and so it had to be done, in all fairness to sport. She should not have been publically humiliated, this was wrong and very unfortunate. But get over it, I know she will. She’s a hero in more than one way and her sterling performance will always be celebrated.
Something that nobody seems to have picked up on is the repeated reference to the notion that Caster is “our little girl” and “our child”. Can you imagine an 18 year old man being referred to as “our little boy”? (Sports teams are often referred to as “our boys”, I know.) Something interesting is going on here.
Hmmmm, well written indeed. However, there are many subtleties. I think you’re focusing on the wrong issue. Even the title suggests it. In no way do I agree/condone whats happening. But, whether it be in favour of men or women, your stance is sexist in its nature, And that alone rebuilds the wall you’re trying so hard to break.
Den: Of course you’ve never seen Tatou with facial hair. That is because she shaves it, smarty pants! Dah!
pete ess: what unfair competition. If there ever was a transsexual in that race, it has to be Jennifer MEADOWS of Britain
Something that nobody seems to have picked up on is the repeated reference to the notion that Caster is “our little girl” and “our child”
Well Sarah this is a curious way that SouthAfricans have of describing their own.
No she (or he) is not a child and she cannot be innocent. Allegedly she has lived with these accusations all of her life and has been gender tested twice in SA by the Limpopo athletic authorities.
I think this story will grow legs.
It may be that Caster is not entirely female and that the Coach (the East German self admitted doper) has taken advantage of that and provided her with some extra ‘stimulation’
I dont think that the SA govt will let her get tested and if they dont then this will give SA huge problems.
Now i know, that my daughter will indeed need to be tested for her sexuallity if she wants to run like a bat out of hell and that is if she chooses to wear pants not dresses. WHT IS THE WORLD COMING INTO?
pete….please stop showing us your IQ level. One would think you are a foreigner from what you wrote and not a patriotic fellow. anyway, thankx for a great article Azad. I personally, appreciate the clarification and in depth you went through in this article though you could have been a bit more compassionate instead of displaying traces of sarcasm. Thanx once again. Semenya did us proud… Let’s be grateful people!
I do not understand why do certain commentators go out of their way to protect this disgusting move by IAAF, the point here is not whether or not it is ok to verify the supposed advantage that Caster (if were to be found – not 100% woman) had over the other girls, rather the humilation of going public with their suspicion!!!
I hear people saying this has got nothing to do with her being African, but explain why this “woman” (see the attached site / address – http://www.thehotspotonline.com/blahblah/articles/jarmila.jpg) was never subject to the same, she looks more suspicious than Caster to me!
“Google – Jarmila, go to youtube, for more and tell me again: pete ess, Den and Candide – Sies!!!
wow Azad, u’re always outdoing yourself…so has it been proven that she has a vagina? but i mean really…so many girls think of sex every 30 seconds or so….i feel really sorry for her
Caster on the front Elle & Cosmo. Brilliant Fatima.
Going back to Cinderella, but on a lighter note, this is what Caster probably learnt from the fairytale:
There is no such thing as happily-ever-after or ideal relationships (be it with man or media), but, a new pair of (running) shoes can change your whole life
interesting article.. if Semenya’s gender was ever in doubt why didn’t any other sporting authorities ever question it in the past, eg when she was in school or at some later stage. its only now when Semenya is world famous athlete does IAAF attempt to find some fault with her… dubious
she’s been questioned before tasneem…always being questioned…apparently, there was one time where she and her coach stopped at the garage to use those special-rooms…when she went to the ladies, the garage attendant stopped her and told her to go to the gents special-room….all her life she’s been questioned….
I think if South Africa had just complied with the
The International Rules that HAVE to be applied by the IAAF there woukld have been none of this.She is NOT the first to be tested and will not be the LAST to be tested.In 10/20/30 years there will be other people on the IAAF who will also apply the rules. If she were WHITE WOULD MALEMA AND WINNIE AND THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN AT THE AIRPORT? no!!!
SIUTH AFRICA created this CIRCUS. This is an excellent article. If South Africa wants to compete
Internationally, the International Rules apply to SOuth Africans,Black and white. Otherwise stay at Home or compete in Africa under Africa Rules which are not actually Rules and Laws They are like rubber you can bend them anyway you want and off course some tea money helps, just depends who needs the bending! This athlete knows she looks masculine, performs masculine and she has come to accept this and should know she will probably be reuested to do tests, just like so many before her.
Even BLACK MEN IN HER OWN COUNTRY (HER OWN PEOPLE)
have thought her to be a man !STOP INFERIORITY COMPLEXES AND CHIPS ON SHOULDERS IF YOU ARE BLACK> THE WORLD DOES NOT CARE ABOUT RACE – This is a GENDER issue.The Black Issue has become so boring!
Rest of the world is full of different people-Only
S African Blacks seem to have rascist problem SHame
You people are judging gender on a superficial basis. Gender has nothing to do with patriotism or racism or feminism which are political and social terms, not scientific terms. Gender is more complex than the presence of a vagina or penis or facial hair. Azad is guilty of making fun of the medical, biochemical and hormonal experts who are the ones to determine gender, not the politicians like Malema who said that his own language has no equivalent to the word “hermaphrodite”. Political polemics do not apply to medical issues.