Caster Semenya is a 29 year old South African runner. She is a gold medalist in the Olympics and has competed in other races. She is cisgendered, which means she was born female and still identifies as female, but lots of people speculate that she is a man based off of the way that she looks and the way she runs. Caster has a condition called hyperandrogenism, which is what gives her so much testosterone. As a female runner who produces more male hormones than her female competitors, she is huge competiton.
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Recently, a rule has passed that stated Caster, and other women like her, are not allowed to run 400m, 800m, and 1500m distances unless they take medications to alter their testosterone levels. These women were born with these conditions, and now their rights to compete with women with normal levels of estrogen have been revoked unless they medically change who they are. The people who made this rule felt that it wasn't fair to the other female competitors that the women with higher testosterone had more advantages in strength and speed.
I, and many other people feel that this rule is unfair to the powerful women with higher testosterone levels. I think they should be able to run as who they are, because that's the way they were born. As runners, their job is to compete and win, and these women won't be able to do so unless they take drugs to lower their testosterone. What do you think is fair? Should Caster Semenya have to medically change herself to run with other women?
https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/54079837
https://www.inverse.com/article/55421-caster-semenya-hyperandrogenism-iaaf/amp
Replies
Good sotry choice and Well done Corrina! You did a great job replying back to people. Be sure to capitalize key words in your title.
I belive that Caster should be able to run without medication. It's not her fault she was born with a disease that gave her extra testosterone. I feel that if the other girls are complaining that they should just push them selves harder. Sure it might not be fare, but it is what it is. I mean sure Caster has an unfair advantage, but she should be able to run without having to take a medication.
I think it is wrong that she should have to take medication in order to have to compete with her own gender. Although she may have certain advantages, she didn't alter her body, she isn't cheating, and she never tried to gain some kind of advantage. It is sad though because there is no right answer to this. If you let her race the other competitors will always be one step behind her, but if you don't, it's not right to her because she didn't alter her body, it was a natural condition.
I think it is unfair to not let her run because of a condition she has that she was born with. Even though she may have more testosterone than other women, she is still a women, which means she should be able to run in the Olympics. Discriminating her, and other women, because of the hyperandrogenism condition, is not fair at all.
I feel like they shouldn't discriminate against her and stop her from running just because of a medical condition. Judging by the way you worded it, it sounds like there are other women with similar condions if they had made a rule just stating they can't run.
I don't think the ruling is fair because she was born like that. She can't control that her body naturally produces testosterone. I think she should be able to race no matter what. I don't think they should be abe to make people that were born different have to change to compete.
I think it's unfair to not let her run in the olympics since she was born a female and identifys as one. Just because she was born with a condition that makes her produce more testosterone she shouldn't be not allowed to run. She was born that way and shouldn't have to take pills to make her weaker.
I totally agree with you because it us unfair to her and any others with that condition. It is not like she chose to be that way. It is also discrimination to her and others with the same condition which could be taken to court.
There's a short story called Harrison Bergeron that takes place in a dystopian future where people who have exceeding talents have to wear "handicaps" to limit their abilities. Beautiful people have to wear masks, intelligent people have loud radios that disrupt thoughts inside of their ears, and athletic people have heavy weights strapped on constantly. I think the two scenarioes are pretty similar and the problems with the handicaps are the same problems with Caster having to change how she is naturally. She shouldn't have to "handicap" herself perse if those are her natural abilities.
EXACTLYYY, I am so glad you brought that story up, that is the perfect comparison. I wish I thought of that. I totally agree. If everyone tried to changed themselves to please the whole world, everyhting would be chaos, like in the story. This case with Caster is a small step towards something like that story happening.
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