While listening to the class discussion
about runner Caster Semenya, there were several different thoughts
running through my head. The first was the disbelief that someone
could be punished for something out of their control. I proposed the
example of New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey. Dickey was born
without a ligament in his throwing elbow that essentially means no
strain is put on his elbow. In theory, he could throw as many
pitches in any given start as he wanted. Would it be fair to punish
him for being born without a ligament? In my opinion, an athlete
should not be punished for such a thing. I also believe there is a
fine line between giving your body more hormones through performance
enhancing drugs and being born with similar hormones. Some things in
life are just out of our control and this is one of them. One of the
most amazing thing about athletics is that each individual is given a
different set of talents and skills. Some people are given more size
while other are given more quickness. I see these extra hormones as
a talent that was given to the individual at birth.
I'm not sure if I believe Caster lost
her race on purpose but I can see both sides of the coin. In one
light, she is an athlete competing at the Olympics and anything other
than gold is often considered a failure for the individual. I'd like
to think someone wouldn't intentionally lose in order to protect
their femininity but that is probably something I'll never
understand. At the same time, I can see why Caster would consider
losing to appear less masculine. I hope she didn't lose on purpose
but at the same time, I can see the rationale for it.
I do not believe you can separate
athletes based upon something such as their testosterone levels. In
my eyes, that is extreme segregation and I think that is horrible.
Athletes aren't separated based upon their height or skin color so
why should athletes with high hormonal levels be punished? If people
really have such a big issue with a runner like Caster Semenya, train
harder so you can beat her.
I completely agree with Wes on the fact that she should not be punished for something she has no control over. It's ridiculous that this argument has even occurred, but that is the type of world we live in today; somebody is always questioning someone or something. I really like the reference to R.A. Dickey. It's a little different than Semenya's case of naturally having more hormones, but they both were born with these special/unique traits. They had no control over it, and they should not be punished even if they do hold a competitive advantage.
ReplyDelete-Michael Discipio
That's right if you want to beat the best you have to work hard to get it. I'm sure Semenya still trained every day. It’s not her fault she was born the way she was, but I don't believe her hormones was all she needed to win games. She worked hard and played less. I believe that society wanted her image to change so that it fits the social norm it wasn't because of her hormones making her a better athlete that made them make her more feminine. In society eyes it’s not common for a female to sound like a guy and since she was a outstanding athlete that they wanted to show off she had to fit the norm of society. This is unfair and wrong!
ReplyDelete-Sparkle Robinson
By: RJ Hefflinger
ReplyDeleteGood points on the pitcher born without the ligament; however that is not the only thing in the arm that will tire out. That is just one less part of the arm he has to worry about healing and taking care of when he gets done pitching. It is still necessary to pitch him a reasonable amount of innings because at the level of play the MLB pitchers are, most of them could pitch a lot more than they actually do. To compare this to something that improves performance rather than extends the ability to perform the same level of skill is not all that accurate.
I see the validity of both points on her winning the race to save her femininity. If she wins she gets called a man or she loses and still keep her identity more woman like because it wasn’t a complete blow out by the athlete. The question is though; is it really worth throwing away victories and hiding your real ability? If that’s the case why even go through all the looks and questions and tests just to become runner up? To me it is not worth it and I think that it is unfair for female athletes with high levels of testosterone to compete with the rest of the athletes.
Here is an example that I see this situation looking like. Bear with me here, I know it is a bit stretched and there can be a lot of variables thrown in but it makes sense. Compare the human athlete to cars. Testosterone is the horsepower in the car. Practice and training is the tuning you can do to the car. If you have a 500 HP car up against a 400 HP car, with the same amount of tuning in each car, the 500 HP will win every time due to its natural ability. However in the racing world the categories are limited to the specifications of the car so these cars would never race each other, and if they did it would be considered unfair. Now apply the same concept to women with higher testosterone levels and same training the results should be the same. I feel that in order to keep the sports fair there has to be rules set to do this or else we will continue running into this problem for every Olympics. This will also be safer for athletes that have to deal with this that way they won’t have to take medications which could mess up their health in trying to get to “normal” level of testosterone.
I thought the comparison between R.A. Dickey and Caster Semenya was a fair one. Since Dickey was born without the ligament in his elbow which causes strain would he not have a competitive advantage over his competition. Semenya had more natural hormones in her body when she was competing and i do not see that as a competitive advantage. Taking hormones that are not naturally produced by the body constitutes as cheating, not being born a certain way. If Semenya did lose in order to protect her femeninity it would show more of our society in my opinion then of Semenya. She deserves to live in a world where she is compared to her competition and is not seen as an outlier for the gifts she was blessed with
ReplyDelete-Aaron Mehling
The big differences between these two is that Caster Semenya was blowing away her competition and that people questioned her gender, whereas R.A. Dickey has never been questioned about his gender and has only become a "star" pitcher this year because he switched to throwing a knuckleball to prolong his major league career. If R.A. Dickey was throwing 105 MPH and winning 20 games a year, only to have people find out he doesn't have a UCL, it would be more publicized and scrutinized, much like Caster Semenya.
ReplyDelete-Kevin Meyers
Both Caster Semenya and R.A. Dickey were born with conditions that gave them advantages over their competition. I agree with Wes that there is a huge difference between athletes who are are born like Semenya and Dickey that give them an edge over competition and those who have to do performance enhancing drugs to get their edge. I believe those who are doing performance enhancing drugs are cheating their way to the top.However, both had their lives brought into the lime light after they were "blowing away the competition". Athletes should not be punished or have a label thrown on them because they some how are born that make them a better athlete.
ReplyDeleteLast comment post on Sept. 10 at 6:42 was by Jenny Kelley
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you and the fact that it is wrong that someone could potentially be punished for something that they have no control over. Seriously, what is Caster Semenya supposed to do about having higher testosterone levels than others. If the Olympic committee forces her to take medicine to lower her levels it could potentially hurt her athletic abilities. Not to mention it is potentially unethical. It wouldn't surprise me if Caster Semenya purposely lost just to ease some of the attention she's been getting
ReplyDelete-Tim Love
I liked the comparison between Semenya and R.A. Dickey. They both had no control over their advantage, they were both born with this way whether it is looked at as an advantage or not, it is not changing. I think it is unfair of the governing body to force Semenya to go on a hormone treatment to "fix" her hormone difference. No one is making Dickey get a ligament placed into his arm so that he is like every other pitcher, so why should Semenya have to adjust her hormones to be like everyone else?
ReplyDeleteJennifer Zoellick
I also don't think it is fair do judge athletes based on their god given talents, if someone is born with something another athlete doesn't have then they are allowed to use that to their advantage. I also hope Semenya didn't lose on purpose just to protect her feminine side, however, it is a possibility because she has made huge efforts by making herself over to look more feminine in order to be accepted. Finally, there is no way athletes should be separated by hormonal levels, just because an athlete has more hormones than another athlete does not make them a better athlete, it would not be fair to an athlete that just because they have the same hormonal level as Michael Jordan, but may not have the skill or athletic ability to even contest him would have to play on the same playing field.
ReplyDeleteJacob Beverly
I also don't think it is fair do judge athletes based on their god given talents, if someone is born with something another athlete doesn't have then they are allowed to use that to their advantage. I also hope Semenya didn't lose on purpose just to protect her feminine side, however, it is a possibility because she has made huge efforts by making herself over to look more feminine in order to be accepted. Finally, there is no way athletes should be separated by hormonal levels, just because an athlete has more hormones than another athlete does not make them a better athlete, it would not be fair to an athlete that just because they have the same hormonal level as Michael Jordan, but may not have the skill or athletic ability to even contest him would have to play on the same playing field.
ReplyDeleteJacob Beverly