You know - I don't get sport at all any more

[the_nita]

South African runner having gender verification tests

Cause you know - that she said "I'm a girl" can't have any relevance when she's so damned buff.

Again, I'm not sure I like my fellow man much most days....

Comments

[zanate]

I'm not sure I like my fellow man much most days....

Are you sure that this fellow is a man?

[the_nita]

If they claim they are.

[zanate]

What if they're lying?

[the_nita]

Unless I feel like questioning everyone, why shouldn't I accept what they say at face value?

[zanate]

There's a subtle difference between self-identification and self-declaration.

It's an interesting twist on the issue. What happens when we have a women's race won by an athlete who self-identifies as male (regardless of plumbing), but lies about it?

[the_nita]

Which would you rather deal with? Someone winning a race by lying about it or someone having to prove who they are, regardless of what they say?

[pundigrion]

It seems like if this is such a big deal, then they really just ought to test *everyone* at that level. Still brings up fuzzies for those who actually have changed gender etc, but at least then everyone would be taking the test instead of "let's point and stare at this one poor girl over here"

[mzrowan]

Until very recently (they dropped it just before the 2000 Olympics), they used to test everyone. That was worse, in my opinion.

[the_nita]

I don't think that testing everyone is good. But I have to say, I think it's a hell of a lot *better* than waiting till someone wins a medal then starting the process in the media...

[mzrowan]

Oh, announcing it to the media was unquestionably wrong, no matter what anyone thinks about the testing itself (although I agree with you on this one). In fact, it was pointed out in one of the articles I linked to yesterday that it's against the IAAF's own policy on these matters: "The official IAAF policy document on gender verification states that one of the steps required for handling such cases is that 'the athlete is referred to the investigating authority in confidence for further investigation and advice'."

(Although, for the record, this process was *started* weeks ago, at the end of July. They only announced it to the media after her win at the Worlds. They never should have announced it at all, as I said above, but the process wasn't *started* with a media announcement.)

[mzrowan]

There's absolutely no evidence that the person in question ever identified as a man.