South African track star Caster Semenya was reported in an Australian newspaper to have no uterus or ovaries and she produces large amounts of testosterone. Experts say that Semenya is a woman with a birth defect and should definately be able to race as woman. Many people are worried about how this will affect her emotionally because two years ago another track runner who tested male killed herself.Dr. Myron Genel says that unless Semenya took a substance that her situation should be treated like any other birth defect. About 1 percent of people are born with this birth defect. For some it's very easy to tell the problem, but for others (especially girls) it is not noticable until they go through puberty or try to have kids.About 27 out of 11,373 women athletes in the Olympics who were genetically tested had an issue. None were men posing to be women though.Some say that women with XY chromosomes would have an advantage, but it has been pointed out that there is no segregration in height. I think this is very true. If everyone who participated in, let's say, a race had to be exactly at the same level then everyone would get the same place. People who practice more and just are naturally better have an advantage too, but does that mean that they shouldn't participate in whatever they do?Doctors used to perform surgery on infants who had this genetic disorder, but now they usually wait until the patient is old enough to decide which gender they wanted. I definately think that this is how it should be. How would the doctor decide which gender to go with when the person is an infant? I guess they would probably go with the more dominant gender, but still if it's not what the patient wants, when they get older they're most likely going to get a sex change. So I think the doctors might as well wait.This article caught my attention because it just amazes me how judgmental some people can be. I think that Semenya should be able to race as a female, and not be descriminated against.
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