Thursday, March 14, 2013

Caster Semenya's Gender Testing

First off, I don't think that in and of itself, having Semenya tested was wrong.  Athletics, especially at that level, are incredibly competitive and I believe that there is a reason that men, and women compete against the same gender, and have their own records and such.  My problem with the whole thing is the big deal the media made out of it, and I agree with what was said in class that the media placed too much attention on the gender aspect of the testing, she was tested for drugs too.  I think the fact that she didn't even break a world record, or if I remember correctly, didn't even win makes the whole thing even more ridiculous.  While I will be the first to admit, her body type is much more masculine, as well as her face,  I don't see why it is such a big deal.  I understand why her fellow athletes wanted to her to be tested, everyone wants to make sure they are playing on a level field...but still, this whole thing just makes me mad that we as a society cannot accept women that don't match up to image that the media shows us they should be...yeah, thats probably the root of all my issues with this whole situation.  Also, I really hope she genuinely enjoys being "glamored up" it would just make me even more upset about the whole thing if she felt like she had to bend to the pressure of the media just so she would stop being questioned and continue doing what she loves, running.

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