When Caster Semenya started running, she had goals for greatness and dreams of victory. Her young eyes were full of stars and her heart was bursting with ambition and drive. I'm sure the one thing she never contemplated within the span of her brief eighteen years was how people would treat her like dog crap once she started winning, because she wasn't "feminine enough." Obviously, the goal of an athlete is not to maintain bleached-blonde hair, to obtain the perfect perm, nor to utilize the latest Revlon product for a flawless complexion. The goal of an athlete is to perform to the best of their ability - and, hopefully, to win. Caster performed to the best of her ability. And she won. How dare she not wear a dress in her off-time! How dare she forget her mascara in the morning! It's just disgusting!!
To make matters worse, this poor dear was subjected to a makeover for "YOU" magazine; she wore a dress and did her hair and everything else, just like they wanted her to. After all, she is a woman and she'd better look a certain way, or else pay the price. She told the BBC, "I am who I am and I'm proud of myself." I beamed with pride myself. And then she said, "I like to dress up more often and wear dresses but I never get the chance." Mmmhmm. Who cares? Every woman has different interests and different tastes and it is not her responsibility to prove that she likes girly things.
Look, I know that all of you out there who are obsessed with the "junk," as my boyfriend so fondly refers to it, will object to my dismissal of the issue of gender. Obviously it's a woman's competition. But folks, she lives her LIFE as a woman; she's not some faker who shaved off his moustache and came in to scoop up the gold and then trot into the sunset, a male champion of a woman's sport. She is 18 years old and barely discovering herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't had sex yet. Why does she need to be beaten to death about it?
The worst part about pummeling this particular girl about whether or not she really qualifies to be a woman on this planet is that she really ended up being an intersex person. Now everyone knows her intimate medical details. And that's just not fair. Especially for a teenager.
I know it's sports. I know they have their "rules." "A rule is a rule," one article mentioned. Give me a break. Rules were meant to be bent, broken, and some obviously need to be changed. Her description was given as follows: She was found to have "no ovaries but rather... internal male testes which are producing large amounts of testosterone." They claim that this gives her an edge over her competitors. Well, gals with stronger muscles, longer legs, better coaches, better diets, and varied levels of testosterone - as well as different choices in supplements and multivitamins - all seem to make the cut. We are all different; a woman's competition must include those who are intersex who live their lives as women. They shouldn't be harangued about it and they shouldn't be singled out. It's immoral. It's unjust. It's disgusting.
She was harrassed because of her appearance to begin with. That is discrimination and it should not be tolerated. The sports authorities should be concerning themselves with things like drug abuse and criminal activity. They need to leave budding champions like Semenya alone. Despite her muscular appearance and her lack of bouncing curls or lip gloss, she is a young girl. You can't take away the fact that she is a champion, so please leave her dignity in one piece too.
Semenya hasn't proven that she likes wearing dresses or that she can pop a baby out of her vagina. She has merely proven that, even at 18 years old, she is a five-star athlete. Apparently that's just not good enough.