This past week in class we discussed various articles. The one I found most interesting was that of
the article involving Caster Semenya of South Africa. We discussed this in class in regards to the
fact that it must be terribly humiliating to be a women and go through the
process of proving your “sex” for the Olympic committees and similar
organizations. Then we also discussed
the possibility of Caster Semenya possibly having chemical imbalances in her chromosomal
make-up that cause her to appear and perform as a male.
This was a highly controversial topic because it sort of
implies that as males we do not believe women should or can perform at such a
high athletic level unless they are cheating.
Also discussed was how stringent the process females go through in such
competition just to prove their sex, whereas men do not go through anything
near those types of tests. Simply put, I
felt bad for Caster Semenya, but I do not believe the Olympic committee was
wrong in what type of tests they administered.
In athletic competition, there is not a single male who performs well
and has the comment made that “maybe he is a female”. That sentence does not make sense. Even female athletes take it as an insult
when they are compared to Maria Sharapova, or the Williams sisters, female
athletes want to be considered in the same sentence with the male
counterpart. Not saying that they want
to be males, but the male athletes that set records and the female athletes
that set records, are on two completely different spectrums. Usain bolt would absolutely embarrass Sanya
Richards-Ross, and Diana Taurasi would stand no chance against Lebron
James. That is not saying all four are
not great athletes, but the males that excel in the sport, excel in a different
level then the females.
This being said, it clearly was an unfair advantage within
Semenya that caused her to perform so well.
Once she started taking medication to bring her body to “normal” levels
for female athletes, her race times drastically decreased (Findlay, 2012). Although still a great athlete, her body was
chemically altered to cause her to perform at such a high, unfair level, for
female runners.
Hi Gene,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog very interesting. I agree with that the Olympic committee was out of line when testing Caster Semenya, that was uncalled for. I also tend to agree for the most part that we can't combine male and females athletes in the same game for sport. The question I have for either Gene or another student is what should the Olympic committee continue to do? Should they keep giving Semenya medication to lower her body "normal" levels, or should they allow her to compete without the medication? Overall this is a tough topic to talk about, just because of the Olympic committee was out of line in my opinion
-Brett Creamer
Gene and Brett,
ReplyDeleteThe Olympic Committee is walking a tight rope with this whole medication controversy. Brett to answer your question, I believe the Olympic Committee should not keep giving Semenya medication. There are males that produce higher levels of female hormones, but you don't hear any controversy about it in the news. So, why should it be any different for females? Also, I feel this could create a snowball affect. I believe these governing bodies will put more time and money into giving female athletes performance un-enhancing drugs to counteract any abnormalities, which will take away some of their resources for identifying athletes who are using performance enhancing drugs. The result of this will be even more athletes competing with an unfair advantage. Overall, this is a very touchy subject and I believe the Olympic Committee and other governing bodies need to proceed very carefully.
-Derek Brewer
As long as I can remember, our society has not really compared women with men until recently. I personally do not think that men athletes and women athletes should be compared to each other. There is definitely a skill difference. If a men's professional basketball team played a women's professional basketball team, the men would dominate the women. Recently some women have been dominating in their sport, and I do not think that society is used to that, so when a woman does show ability and skill, it is society that questions their femininity. I do not think it is right for the Olympic Committee or any other committee to make the women athletes take medication. If the athlete passes their physical, I think they should be cleared to play without any additional medications that might slow them down. However, since it is rare for women to dominate other women, I could see how some people would be skeptical and want further investigations on that woman. Eventually society will get used to some women dominating their sport without calling them “manly”, but for now I think we have to get used to it.
ReplyDeleteKody Burlingame
Brett,
ReplyDeleteI also think the Olypmic Committee was out of line by making Caster Semenya take medication to lower her testoterone. That is similar to punishing an NFL team by not letting the players lift weights for a season, but worse. To deprive (and humiliate) someone of a natural gift like this is so unethical. It's barbaric. My upmost respect and feelings go out to Caster Semenya for going through this and continuing to compete.
-Michael Discipio
Hi Gene,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a very controversial subject but I don't think Caster Semanya should have been forced to take those medications. I always try to take things from the other person's shoes and being told that you were only good because of a chemical imbalance could have really had a psychological effect on her performance after the medication was taken. I wonder if this had they took that into consideration when testing her before and after the medication.
Sam Melchor
To answer Brett's question, I think that the Olympic governing bodies should reevaluate their verdict. It is causing a lot of controversy and is shedding a light on Semenya that I'm sure she could deal without. I also liked the comment that Derek made about there being no controversy over males that produce more female hormones. No one makes a fuss if a man with a little extra estrogen goes out and wins a competition, but if a female with extra testosterone goes out and dominates, suddenly she must be chastised and put on a hormone treatment. This is clearly unequal, and I think the Olympic committee owes it to Semenya to reevaluate their verdict.
ReplyDeleteJenn Zoellick
I also think that the Olympic Committee should not require Semenya to take medication to lower her testosterone, it may give her an advantage yes, but she was born with it and people shouldn't try to keep other people from reaching their greatness just because they don't have what they have or are jealous of what they have. Derek makes a very good point that there is no controversy if males produce more female hormones, so why should there be one if a woman produces more male hormones, it is just not equal treatment on both spectrum for men and women.
ReplyDeleteJacob Beverly
By: Ollie Goss
ReplyDeleteIn this controversial topic, I think that Caster Semenya should have to take the testosterone decreasing medication because she is given an extreme unfair advantage for her sport. In baseball, people harshly criticize male athletes for using performance enhancing drugs that increase their testosterone, so why should Caster Semenya have this distinct unfair advantage. Results showed that after her testosterone were decreased to more normal levels of females, her times dwindled. Ever since major league baseball increased their drug testing, the average number of home runs in a season has gone down substantially and the game has turned into "the pitcher's game". If you allow Caster Semenya to participate in the female races with such a significant enhancement in testosterone, then the Olympic Committee should allow female athletes to dope so they can level the playing field.