Disclaimer: This
post contains strictly my own views and is based solely on the facts I had
available to me at the time of writing.
If you don’t like it, keep it moving.
Also, Mark, we are not debating this again.
If it’s one
thing that makes my blood boil, it’s the long, creepy fingers of patriarchal
organisations that try to keep the underdog down. Needless to say, the Caster Semenya case against
the IAAF is a prime example of this and instead of indulging in another
internet fight, I have decided that this can be used as an excellent example to
educate people about intersectional feminism and why the IAAF are a bunch of
assholes. There, I said it.
First off, let
me give you a little background into intersectional feminism. Back in 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw figured out
that even in marginalised groups of society, there were groups that were
further marginalised based on certain aspects.
For example, we love to talk about the early feminist leaders like
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, both of whom were ardent
suffragettes in the United States. While
their work is noteworthy and laudable, women of colour were excluded from the
movement based on their skin colour and their social status. In short, intersectionality is where there is
discrimination on more than one basis of discrimination.
Back to
Caster...
Caster is a
national treasure, in my opinion. She
has the potential to be discriminated toward on almost every level possible and
yet she fights back with the strength and grace only a woman could have. Everything about her, down to her own
biology, is questioned and doubted, but still she rises.
Fighting the
Patriarchy
It should be
clear without saying that by being a woman and fighting against a sports body,
Caster is already up against mountains of institutionalised misogyny. Never forget that for a larger part of
history, women were not allowed to compete in any kind of sporting competition. Kathrine Switzer’s fight to run the Boston
Marathon with men in 1967 is a perfect example of this. You’d think in 52 years we’d have learnt
something, yet most recently cyclist Nicole Hanselmann was stopped in the
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race in Belgium because she had caught up with the men’s
race support vehicles, despite the men having a 10 minute head start. Let’s not even discuss Serena Williams’
treatment by officials during the Australian Open this year.
Caster Semenya’s
birth certificate is unequivocal: she is female, as identified at birth. She has female sex organs and identifies as a
woman. She is therefore a woman. By forcing her to take medication to reduce
something her body produces naturally, the IAAF is attempting to control her
body in the interests of “fair competition”.
It is Caster’s right to exist as she naturally is, as per the United
Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (specifically Articles 2, 3 and
7, which can be found here).
Every single judge of the Court of Arbitration for Sports is from a
Country belonging to the UN and so is South Africa, which entitles Caster to
these inalienable rights.
This is also not
the first time that the IAAF and international sporting bodies have called
women’s “femaleness” into question.
Gender testing was initially proposed during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
after two field athletes, one Czech and one English, presented as distinctly
male. Both, however, later had gender
reassignment surgery and identified as male.
The testing itself was formally introduced by the IAAF (surprise,
surprise) in 1950, where female athletes were forced to parade naked and be
physically examined by physicians, which included a variety of degrading and
inhumane tests such vaginal examinations and clitoral stimulation. This disgusting practice was later introduced
by the International Olympic Committee in 1968, where they began testing for
Y-chromosomes in all athletes (which is not entirely conclusive). Gender verification testing was continued
until as late as 1992.
It is clear from
this that sporting bodies, regardless of the discipline, have consistently
prejudiced women who are not distinctly “female” or “feminine”.
But is it
racism?
Let me start by
acknowledging that the first intersex person banned for life by the IAAF
(actually for refusing to be tested) was a Dutch athlete named Foekje Dillema
and she was white. That being said, this
was in 1950 before African nations began competing from 1960 onwards. Other white women who were either banned from
competing or stripped of their medals came primarily from Eastern European
countries.
The most recent
cases, however, are limited to athletes of colour, including Caster Semenya and
Dutee Chand of India, who most notably won her case against the IAAF in 2012.
Further
consideration should be given to the current world record-holder in the women’s
800m event: Jarmila Kratochvilova of the Czech Republic. Her time of 1:53:58 at the 1983 Olympics
remains unbeaten to this day – not even by Caster, who allegedly has an unfair
advantage over other women. Her physique
does not differ significantly from Caster’s – in fact, I would say her legs are
more muscular. I can accept the argument
about the heavy doping strategies of the Eastern Bloc prior to the fall of the
Iron Curtain, but that begs the question: why is this record not wiped if it
was allegedly achieved unfairly? Kratochvilova
has consistently denied the use of anabolic steroids, but while there are still
rumours and suspicions, she is taken at her word. Compare this to the treatment of Caster whose
privacy was significantly infringed on to reveal her medical records, yet her
performance is still questioned.
Another point of
consideration is Caster’s accusers, most notably Lynsey Sharp of Britain, who
came 6th in the 800m final event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where
Caster came first. I agree that this
could simply be a sour grapes response, except for one glaringly racist fact:
she didn’t complain about Caster only.
She complained about the second and third place competitors too,
Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya. She complained that all three, but
specifically Caster, had unfair advantages because of their masculine
physiques.
If you review
the times each competitor in the Final event achieved in the qualifying heats,
Lynsey Sharp achieved 2:00.83, while Caster only beat her time, by running in
her own event in 1:59.31 – fractions of a second. Moreover, during the heats, Caster’s was not
even the best time recorded (it was, in fact, the 5th best time out
of all 8 heats). In the semi-final where
Caster and Lynsey faced off before the Final, Caster beat Lynsey by a mere half
of a second. There are obviously tactics
and strategies employed by athletes as it relates to qualifiers and
semi-finals, but the fact of the matter is, the difference in their times do
not support her claims of an unfair advantage – their times are very much
aligned with normal competition.
Having regard to
the above, it is my firm belief that Lynsey Sharp’s outrage was not only about
being a sore loser, but also a thinly veiled attempt to further suppress
athletes of colour who threaten the balance of white privilege in professional
sports. The 5th place
competitor in the race, Joanna Jozwik of Poland, actually stated in her
post-race interview that she was the “first European” and “second white” in the
race, implying (at least to me) that the three winners were negligible due to
their alleged advantages.
It’s no secret
that black people are physically more suited to sports and activities where
their strength and stamina are tested.
However, white people have long dominated formal competitions due to the
political power that they exercised over black people for so long. It is my view that this IAAF case against
Caster is also a racial issue.
Classism is
real too
Oh, yes, there’s
another level of this hole and that is the classism and elitism that exists
amongst professional athletes regardless of their discipline.
Caster Semenya
was born in Ga-Masehlong, near Polokwane in Limpopo Province. It is essentially 10 streets wide and 8 roads
long. While perhaps not an informal
settlement, Caster certainly did not grow up with an influence. Following her breakout success in 2008 and
the various associated attention it garnered, Caster was able to improve her
times in 2009 by huge leaps: 25 seconds in the 1500m event and 8 seconds in the
800m event. She was thus tested for
doping, which revealed her intersex nature (and also completely and
inappropriately invaded her right to privacy).
What changed so
dramatically in 1 year? Did Caster’s
ovotestes suddenly kick in? No, she got
famous and a whole lot of sponsorships came in.
Sponsorships mean money and money means better access to equipment and
resources for training. Her performance
improved when she could train for longer periods and eat the right foods and
hire the best coaches available.
Similarly, as she got better and better, she received more and more in
sponsorships, resulting in her being able to afford better training
facilities.
Her biology
undoubtedly gives her an advantage in competition, but no more than a 2m tall
basketball player or Michael Phelps and his size 14 flipper feet. Caster has become a world champion by using
her physical gifts in combination with the fruits of her labours to get better
training. Never forget that she is NOT
the world record-holder and that her times have not always been so vastly
different from her competitors.
The reason I
have written this post is because this matter makes me so angry when I discuss
it: I feel like Caster’s hard work is utterly disregarded because people refuse
to look past her biological differences.
I know this is controversial and highly politicised, but I must remind
you that these are simply the views I have based on the facts I have. A lot of research and effort has gone into
this post because I would never want to publish a damaging opinion. That said, my email address is on my
‘contact’ page and I invite you to engage privately me if you wish. I will not, however, tolerate abuse about the
subject.
I always end my
posts wishing you love and light, but this week I am directing all the love and
light I can channel to Caster as the Court of Arbitration will provide their
findings on the matter by 26 March 2019.
Until next time ♡♡♡
Side note: All those Julius Malema jokes
about “Caster Semenya, he is a woman” are not funny: not just because it
trivialises Caster’s battle but it’s also racist to make fun of a
person’s ability to speak a language other than their mother tongue. Julius Malema is a dick when it comes to his
policies, beliefs and actions, but it’s still not cool to make fun of him
speaking a second language.
That is all.
