Girl or Boy?

After reading the article, "This is Not Natural:" Caster Semenya's Gender Threats, I couldn't help but feel bad and sad for the girl. Caster was a talented runner, who happened to have masculine features. As her times improved, more and more speculated that she was in fact a he. Although after a gender test was called for and showed her having four times the normal amount of testosterone in her body, her gender was still unable to be determined from a biological stand point.

Gender is something that is assigned to us at birth. biologically we could be male or female, but the roles of gender are created by society depending on what we biologically are born with. I felt bad for Caster during the entire reading because here was a girl, who had extreme talent and lack femininity and because of that combination, her gender was automatically questioned. How sad is that, that if a female athlete is talented and making a statement, her femininity and gender are in question? If a male is good at sports, we worship him. If a male is bad at sports, we bench him! We don't accuse him of being a female. The double standard for men and women in our society is absurd, especially in athletics. It is hard enough to get enough respect and credit for female athletics, but to question ones gender because they are good? that is just wrong.

This is a very special case, were the gender was unable to be completely determined. But she is not the only one to go through this kind of ridicule. Brittney Griner, women's basketball player for Baylor, receives criticism for her appearance all the time. Griner is 6'8" and wears a size 18 shoe. She is a dominate force is women's basketball, but because she is so good and lacks many feminine feature, she is called a man daily. The media will make comments about gender testing and all over social media, people rip on her for her looks and her ability to play basketball. I cannot imagine being so good at a sport and breaking records while making a name for women's basketball, but having all that looked past due to the fact of ones appearance. The media pays more attention to how she looks than how she plays.

Semenya and Griner both face the same problems created by the media. Yes, they appear to be more masculine than feminine. Yes, they are talented athletes. But is this really enough grounds to question their gender? Society is too wrapped up in gender roles and norms sometimes that we forget, they are people too. Just because they are abnormally tall and talented, doesn't mean we should automatically question their gender or if they are the same species as the rest of us humans.