Caster Semenya

So the story of the South African runner Caster Semenya is getting me really heated up. She's a world champion runner, 18 years old... and may be potentially disqualified because of the results of "gender" test which indicate that she is a hermaphrodite. Mind you, her external phenotype is female (no on penis, yes on vagina)... she identifies as a woman, and was raised as a woman. Her family says she's a woman. So she's certainly not "lying" about anything.

So what is the controversy? Test results have shown that she has no ovaries and that she has testosterone producing glands which have elevated her levels of testosterone to abnormally high levels.... no word yet on if they are going to do an actual chromosome test to she if she is actually XX or XY. Ok, fine. She has an endocrine abnormality. So do millions of people. Every single woman with thinning hair, polycystic ovarian syndrome, metabolic problems, etc. has elevated levels of testosterone. Every woman post-menopause has decreased levels of estrogen (some abnormally low). Many men have physiological problems such as renal dysfunction as a result of too much estrogen production. And millions of people have chromosome abnormalities and other genetic defects which mess with their hormone levels. Do we suddenly cease to classify these people as a man or a woman? Do we tell them they can't participate in world championship races? No. That's called DISCRIMINATION.

Granted I realize this is about male/female races, and about making sure no one has unfair advantage over their opponents due to physiology... but really, folks....this is just wrong.