New York Marathon

During a recent conversation with New York City Marathon's media relations guru Sarah Hunninghake, some interesting information was shared. There is no separate race for men and women, the women's race simply begins 30 minutes before the men. In the nine years she has worked with the marathon, she is not aware of any gender tests being issued. In fact she is unaware of any such test being administered since the race's origin in1970.

When asked if uni sexuality would be basis for disqualification, Sarah stated that there are more than 43,000 participants in the amateur race every year, which would render identifying unisex individuals nearly impossible. Those who race in the professional race and are eligible to receive prize money are invited by marathon organizers, so the likelihood of a reputable runner being identified and uni sexed is highly unlikely.

Think you know enough about identifying gender? Think again, visit: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gendertest/gendertest.html for more information.

--Spencer

Chicago Marathon says:

I contacted the office for the Chicago marathon via email and they replied to me this:
             "All enrolling participants are allowed to run our race. In the event that a runner's performance entitles his or her to recognition or prize money, the Chicago Marathon adheres to USATF (USA Track and Field) and IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) rules."

              So sounds to me like if a person who was intersex signed up to compete, they would get the chance to run, but if they win, they may not get a prize if questioned about their gender.

--Brooke

Intersex in the Races!

It’s natural to have questions about things that are different from what you know. Naturally, our team had questions about intersex athletes and their running.
I contacted Mary Ann Schauerhamer, who founded Utah Running Club just over a year ago. With this program being in its infancies, my questions were quite a surprise to her. She was very chatty when I asked her about the program itself. She said she wanted to start a program that was available year round and that is affordable for people who just want to run. You don’t have to be the best and you can win a small cash price! The racers trek Provo Canyon, the same route, a low-key race, and for a third of the price, even in the winter!
Utah Running Club doesn’t require a gender test. They don’t have a lot of requirements for anyone. Males and females run together, with the females getting a three minute head start. As far as Mary Ann knows, she hasn’t yet had anyone intersex in the races. If she did, I’m sure she’d be just as pleasant with them as she was with me.

--China

The Most Recent News Regarding Caster

The most recent news regarding the controversy of Caster Semenya still goes on. The International Association of Athletics Federation has not come to a conclusion whether to strip Semenya of her medal, or to allow her to compete in future races. As of November 20th, there have been numerous meetings to make a deal regarding Semenya’s earnings from the August race and gold medal title.

A big dilemma they Federation ran into was prior to the race. Semenya had a gender test, but the South Africa Federation President, Leonard Chuene lied about his knowledge that she has a test. The Federation is now investigating whether or not this would have affected her entering the race if they had known this information. Chuene has since been suspended from the Federation.

The Association as a whole is now looking over the rules and procedures, and analyzing whether this is an ethical, legal, or medical issue that needs to be dealt with. The most prominent answer from the board is that all three issues are related. Since this hasn’t been a problem in the past, they are reviewing whether the rules need to be modified on order to adapt to the upcoming dilemmas in regards to gender amongst male and females. It is reported that the rules could change depending on the ruling of Caster Semenya’s case.

--Lexi Burchmore

A case in India, Similiar to Semenya's

Indian Runner Santhi Soundarajan can empathize with what Caster Semenya is going through. Soundarajan was questioned about her gender in the 2006 Asian Games after finishing in second place in the women's 800 meter race. She was forced to return her silver medal and was forced to drop out of competing in athletics after she failed a gender test in Doha, Quatar. 

After getting rejected from competing in Sport, Soundarajan mentions that it was hard for her to find a job, partially because she was from a poor family and also because she was looked at like a cheat. She mentioned that if she got her medal back be a dream come true. The Athletics Federation of India has said that they might consider asking for its return from the Olympic Council of Asia. 

She told the Associated Press on Saturday in an interview, "I pray that Semenya does not go through what I've been through, it almost drove me to committing suicide." Soundarajan has been coaching poor children for the past two years and has been strongly uplifted from that.

--Brooke Broderick

Top of Utah

There are so many different competitive races in Utah. We decided to seek some of them out and ask them what their experiences are with intersex athletes. I contacted the Top of Utah Marathon. This marathon is conducted along the Wasatch Mountains of Cache Valley. This is a big marathon with a lot of competitors each year.

I talked to their Assistant Directors, Todd, who is one of the originators of this marathon. This summer will be the 12th anniversary of this event. He indicated that he has never been required to perform a gender test on any of the participants, but they do classify their events male/female. Everyone is then expected to put themselves into which category that they fit. With that being said, they “trust that everyone who participates is honest enough that there would not be any cheating” involved in their decision.
In 12 years there has been only once instance where they have had an intersex person wanting to compete. This person was upfront about this and told them their circumstance. The directors instructed this person to compete in whichever event they felt fit them best and what they classify themselves as in their daily lives.
If the Top of Utah event could bring in more money and more intersex participants, Todd said they would create events that would better classify these people.

--Morgan

What do you think?

Before

After

--Morgan

Reflections on Sites

 

Transsexuality and Intersexuality are commonly mistaken as the same thing. This is when people are mistaken. Transsexuals are born one gender and get several surgeries and hormonal implants to help transform them into the other gender or simply just identify themselves with the other gender where as an intersexual person is “born with reproductive organs, genitalia and/or sex chromosomes that are not exclusively male and female parts,” according to the AIS support group from Australia.

Two Russian sisters, Irina and Tamara Press were very talented athletes in Track and Field. Combined these two sisters won 26 world records and six Olympic gold medals during the 1950’s and 1960’s, the media questioned whether or not they were woman. In the 1966 European athletics Championship gynecological examinations were introduced. This is when athletes would line up and were forced to stand naked in front of a committee who inspected their genitalia. There was about 250 women who were there and had no abnormalities, however the Press sisters were not there and as far as the media know, did not compete in athletics again.

According to the department of culture, media, and sport, the Gender Recognition Act of 2004 makes it possible for transsexual people to gain full legal recognition in their new gender. There is a twist though, when it comes to sports, they want the sports to be fair. Due to this they do not automatically give transsexuals the right to compete immediately compared to other people with a defined gender from birth. Trans can be restricted from competitive sporting events to make it fair for everyone else. For example a person who is transsexual from man to woman they may have a higher level of testosterone giving them the ability to run faster than the “normal woman” with not nearly as much testosterone as the transsexual.

Intersex and Transsexual’s seem to have the same problem when it comes to competing in sports. Several people have been disqualified, embarrassed, ridiculed in sports competitions due to being intersex or a transsexual. This is leading to mistreatment to people; just because someone is not completely male of female or has been changed through surgery does not mean they are not human.

Semenya is not the first who has been questioned about her sex in a competition; she is one of the most recent that has been all over the news though. Some people in the past who have also had problems are Erik Schinegger, an Austrian woman’s downhill skier who was disqualified from the 1968 Winter Olympics. A Brazilian Judo fighter was allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), and Athens (2004) after getting surgery and doing hormonal therapy. It’s almost like intersexual and transsexuals were beginning to get the same opportunity as fully male of female people competing in events, but this is a misconception. In 2006 at the Asian Games, Santhi Soundarajan won the silver medal in the 800-meter race and got it taken away when she failed the sex test.  This makes me wonder, how much is transsexual and intersexuality accepted? Is it really fair to rip a medal away if they fail a sex test? What is fair for the people born intersex?

 

References:

"Comparisons of Intersex conditions and Transsexualism." 2005. AIS Support Group Austrailia, Web. 22 Oct 2009. .

"Intersex and sport." Intersex and the city. 9/15/2009. Web. 21 Oct 2009. http://intersexandthecity.blogspot.com

"Transsexual people and sport." Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Sports Division, Web. 19 Oct 2009.

Richie, Robert. "Intersex and the Olympic Games." American Woman Athletes September 2009: n. pag. Web. 22 Oct 2009. .

Richie, Robert, John Reynard, and Tom Lewis. "Intersex and the Olympic Games." X-Gender April 2009: n. pag. Web. 23 Oct 2009. .

-Brooke

History of Intersex Athletes

There is a long-standing tradition of questioning the biological sex of elite female athletes. More often that not, these inquiries are unfounded, but all they invariably begin with the same line of thought, “That lady looks like a dude”.

Successful female athletes who possess traditionally feminine attributes such as voluptuous breasts and Barbie like measurements are seldom, if ever, subjects of scrutiny about sex and gender. Female athletes who don’t resemble Anna Kournikova however, often are subjected to such scrutiny.

Two such examples are Mildred “Babe” Zaharias and Renée Richards. Zaharias competed in myriad events from javelin, hurdles and high jump in the 1932 Olympics to wining every available woman’s golf title by 1950. Successful as she was, there were many who believed that because of her masculine manner of dress, behavior, and competition that she was indeed a man. These rumors only died after she married.

Born Richard Raskind, Renée Richards succeeded at a young age in men’s competitive tennis, became an eye surgeon and served in the United States Navy. Following successful sex reassignment surgery in 1975, Renée returned to the court, this time a woman. Initially she was denied entry in the 1976 US Open, but an appeal to the New York Supreme Court proved fruitful as the ruling on her admission was overruled. She went on to compete successfully in the US Open, Reaching the Doubles Finals twice until she retired in 1981.

--Spencer

Intersex? What the Heck?

Intersex? What the Heck?
You don’t know what intersex means? Well, don’t be embarrassed, because it’s something that’s been kept under wraps. Intersex is a person who has sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit with male or female parts. It can be a combination of both sexes; a girl may be born with boy-like parts. Intersex has a 1 in 2000 chance of happening. Since this is such a small statistic, sometimes people never even know they have it.

Wikipedia has Miss Semenya mentioned in their article about intersex. Since only speculations have been thrown around, and nothing has been proved legitimately; Wikipedia chose to respect her privacy by not adding her to the list of famous intersex persons.

With accusations that Caster Semenya is intersex, controversy has risen very quickly. Rather than being just a girl, doctors question if she’s a girl with a boyish internal body. Specialists have categorized people into three categories: male, female and intersex. Which one do you think Miss Semenya belongs in?

--China

Semenya's Controversy

In August 2009 the IAFF World Track & Field Championship was held in Berlin, Germany. Among the hundreds of athletes, one stood out among the crowd. Eighteen year old Caster Semenya from South Africa blew away the competition in the 800 meter dash. With the time of 1:55.45, this set the fastest time of the year. With this victory, many questions sparked about her gender. With her stunning times, mascular build and deep voice, she was required to take a gender test.

After many doctor evaluations including: gynecologists, endocrinologists, psychologist and internal medicine specialists it was determined that Semenya is intersex. Her body contained both male and female characteristics, specifically lacking a uterus and ovaries. She was also producing three times the amount of testosterone than an average woman would produce and also contained internal male testes.

Many negative reactions were brought up in the sports world about these tests performed on Caster. Many leaders from South Africa have lashed out about the controversy saying that it was racist and took away her human rights and privacy.

The following month Caster’s coach officially resigned stating, “We did not advise Ms Semenya properly.” He admitted about lying to her about the reasons behind all the tests that were being performed. He also admitted to ignoring the team doctor when he advised pulling her our of the world championship to keep her medical records confidential. He took fault in failing to protect her privacy.

--Morgan and Lexi