Week 2: Blog Entry #2

By Dr. Spencer

Some of you have asked about ideas for topics for Week 2. Ideally if you are doing a Week 2 entry, it should be based upon the articles that we read for the second week of classes. For Tuesday, we discussed the articles on Intersex (Findlay, 2012; Salt, 2007). More specifically, we talked about whether an athlete (e.g., Caster Semenya) had an 'unfair advantage' because of higher levels of testosterone. I do not believe we came to a conclusion on that topic. In the attached article by Salt and Brain (2007), there are further examples of athletes who were intersex - in some cases, they did not even know about this condition while they were alive. For example, Sheila Walsh (below) competed for Poland in the 1932 Olympics and won the gold medal in the 100 m. In 1980, she was the victim of a burglary in Cleveland, OH, and she died at the age of 69. After she died, the "autopsy revealed that she possessed male genitalia, although Polish research also indicates that she displayed some female characteristics. Detailed investigation more recently has also revealed that she had the male XY pair of chromosomes" (Salt & Brain, 2007, para. 7). Her condition has been referred to as mosaicism.

  

In the article about Caster Semenya, Findlay said that she has had treatments to reduce her testosterone levels so as to minimize her advantage. Therefore, was it fair for her to compete in the Olympics? This article suggests that maybe she purposely lost her race in the Olympics. Do you believe that is what happened? What should happen in cases where an intersex individual wishes to participate in sport? How should governing bodies (the Olympics, World Cup, NCAA) address such issues?

Another topic that you could address in this week's Blog entries could relate to the readings by Clatterbaugh (2000) and/or Coleman (2009). Those two readings outlined some of the components of the Men's and Women's Movements, respectively. Since neither article directly addressed sport, I included information in the slides about how the Women's movement related to sport (see power point slides under "Course Information" on Blackboard). You could discuss the relationship between the Women's movement and the athletes who emerged. Or you could speculate on the relationship between the Men's Movement and sport. Overall, do you see a relationship between what is happening in social movements and what is happening in sport? You should explain your responses and give examples to illustrate.