Angry and Black Since 1976; Somebody's Momma Since 2010
2009-09-08
Caster Semenya Gets A Makeover
Caster Semenya gets a makeover. I think she looks good, but I think it is sad she has to prove her femininity to the world. Does make up and some nice clothes really make you a woman? Why wasn't her "old" persona good enough?
38
comments:
Tiga
said...
Wow...she does look very pretty, but you're right. It's a damn shame she had to prove that she's a woman. Really, a shame. SMGDH
I don't think she needed to do that. If i was in her place, I'd probably put on a mustache just to spite the idiots questioning my gender. Media needs to back off and leave her the hell alone.
"I don't think she needed to do that. If i was in her place, I'd probably put on a mustache just to spite the idiots questioning my gender. Media needs to back off and leave her the hell alone."
She doesn't have to "put on a mustache", all she has to do is let her own grow in, since she most certainly had one before the makeover.
I disagree regarding the "beautiful" label. Not everyone was born or destined to be beautiful! That's a fact of life and there's nothing wrong with that. Is Caster talented? Yes! I think he/she should just be his/herself and dress whichever way is most comfortable, because Caster is clearly very uncomfortable looking in that pic.
Well, she does look like a man in drag. She doesn't have the features for that nonsense into which they've got her rigged. The hair, the make-up, the awful neckline of the dress--- all just draw attention to the fact that her features aren't feminine.
Even the pose they have her in undermines her physical power and status--- the whole mess of that photograph is trying to make a diminutive, shrinking house fraulein out of a woman who burst into the global consciousness for being the track equivalent of the Williams sisters.
More to the point, the frippery suggests there's something very "wrong" about her natural features, something that must be "fixed" to make her more acceptable/more welcomed/more human.
Even worse, this nonsense plays directly into the hands of those who lambasted her for her looks in the first place.
Perhaps I'm being hyperbolic, but that cover makes me think: "Oh no, they're colonizing Africa all over again!" (Yes, I know that "You" is a South African magazine, but it's arguably a very Eurocentric one.)
To my mind, this cover is the equivalent of fashion magazines that say "We showcase Black women!", and then trot out fifty girls with twenty yards of weave, thousands of dollars in nose jobs, and skin so pale the light reflecting from it will blind you.
I can understand Caster wanting to feel feminine (if, indeed, that's the case, and she wasn't simply pressured into this by PR people). But if so, they should have found people who know what they're doing, who could have complimented her looks.
All that matters: were her wins legitimate in the context of the sports in which she competed? And the only reason that matters is because the unanswered question will hamper her the rest of her career.
I'd hate to be listening to a recap of her records in fifty-years, and hear every achievement followed up with some snide comment about her gender, and how the only way a woman--- especially a Black woman--- was able to succeed was because "she was really a man".
"I disagree regarding the "beautiful" label. Not everyone was born or destined to be beautiful! That's a fact of life and there's nothing wrong with that. Is Caster talented? Yes!"
Let us not forget that beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder. What standard are you using to determine that she is not beautiful? The Euro standard. If that is the case then, yes she ins't.
I have seen very good looking European men that would give Brad Pitt a good run for his money ( I personally don't find him attractive anyway but he seems like the standard for white men). Go crazy over what most would consider extremely unattractive African women.
We had one Big Brother Africa show and a British guy had a crush on a house mate that many Africans considered absolutely ugly. Semenya would look like Cindy Crawford next to her. But the guy thought she was absolutely gorgeous. I see Semenya as beautiful and I can see many men being attracted to her.
So before you declare that someone is not beautifuul, ask your self, by whose standards. I have personally found many people unattractive that others thought were beautiful e.g. Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Castor looks the same to me. She just has her hair down and some gloss and eyeshadow on. I never saw her as ugly or thought that she was a man. She just looks like a physically fit woman whose appearance doesn't adhere to our standards of beauty (slender facial bone structure, long hair, big breasts, small waist, modest hips, etc). Even if she weren't as physically fit as she is, her face would look pretty much the same, she can't be blamed for her genes and phenotype.
@Anon 9:13 AM: You can't correct someone else's definition of beauty. No one is obligated to find beauty in what others find beautiful. If Grata thinks that Castor is beautiful, then so be it, you don't have to agree.
@ 3:08: uhhh, of course I don't have to agree with Grata's idea of beauty, which I why I disagreed in the first place, lol. And Grata, no I don't find Caster unattractive because I value the European idea of beauty. Quite the contrary, actually. Brad and Paltrow? Totally overrated in the looks department, imo. Caster just strikes me as very masculine and it has nothing to do with her skin tone, hair or muscular physique. She/he has that Bea Arthur vibe to me (God rest her) To repeat what I said earlier, everybody wasn't meant to be born beautiful! Why does that create such sensitivity? Nevermind. I already know that answer.
How am I troll? And in what way am I shallow? While you were reading my comment, did you actually comprehend any of it?
Or were you so offended originally by my assessment that she looks like a man in drag that it simply arrested your ability to fully process the comment?
"To repeat what I said earlier, everybody wasn't meant to be born beautiful! Why does that create such sensitivity? Nevermind. I already know that answer."
Agreed, not everyone was meant to be born beautiful. But we must first define what makes beauty. Its is all relative.
SO far the universally accepted standard of beauty is the Euro one. And Caster doesn't pass that one.
I just rememebered an incident as a child and a older neighbor of ours(who came from a different tribe that phenotypically has round noses that were refered to as bowls) said if she travelled to Europe she would just be staring at Eurpean noses. She said this not in admiration but because she found them rather strange like a beaks of birds. So here you have people that have had little exposure to Western culture and they think that European looks are very strange. Semenya would actually fit well in that tribe. The women are usually very lean and a "man" like. They are the only tribe were women comfortably ride bicycles. This is generally unheard of in other tribes. Its a man's job to do that. So in their standards of beauty, Caster is beautiful. Beauty I believe should be judged against the standards one's ethnic back ground. (though many are switching to the Western Standard) Each one has their own standards of beauty and against Caster's own she may or may not be beautiful. But from what I see, she is beautiful.
The picture isn't flattering at all, but it's an attempt. I feel for Caster having to "prove" her femininity this way. There's more to being a woman than stylish hair, clothes, and makeup.
Every woman can't be a "beauty", and there's nothing wrong with that. Felicity Huffman talked about this in reference to her role in "Transamerica". That said, I don't think the standard of beauty is European. We're drawn to what we like as individuals, whether or not we're willing to admit it.
Euro-beauty equals acceptance because of the obvious influence and power, yes, but definitely not the global standard. My WASP husband grew up around tanned blondes and said that when we met, I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It's definitely in the eye of the beholder. As much as I despise feel-good cliches, this one is true in my experience.
So today, there was an article that said they found out that she didn't have a womb or ovaries, and had an extremely high level of testasterone (like 3 times that of a woman). They are categorizing her as a hermaphrodite. I think this is really sad how the media is exploiting her like this. I think LGBT advocates are going to be all over the track association if they pull her. Who are we to tell her she's not a woman, if she identifies with being a woman? But I must say, she does look quite manly. Especially pre-makeover.
I feel bad for her because what's between her legs and in amongst her guts aren't her fault. It's also sad that people forget that sex and gender are two different things.
Many individuals have left comments on this blog and newspaper articles pointing to arbitrary physical traits, like the presence of a moustache or presence or absence of a uterus, as the gospel of sex. Newsflash: lots of women, "normal" women, have facial hair and a goodly number of that same group have no wombs because they were not born with them or they were surgically removed...but they can still compete as women.
You've got women who give birth to babies that aren't theirs by virtue of their "normal" girly bits being formed with the genetic material of the X chromosome not used in the rest of their bodies. There are girls who are really boys that aren't sensitive to the testosterone floating about in their bloodstreams at levels a bojillion times higher than the "normal" woman, so their penises and male secondary sex characteristics never develop. They're only discovered when a concerned mom realizes her little girl doesn't have a monthly visitor well past the time it should've arrived. In a female athlete with little body fat this is common *coughgymnastscough*, so in an elite competitive runner in her teens, chances are no one would bat an eye. The human body is a damn trip and most of its hiccups go unnoticed and unseen.
I think the information was released in the way it was to embarrass and shame her. Where, exactly, is she supposed to compete now? If she has the surgery and lives as a woman, will they let her compete again? Irrespective of her physiological differences from a majority of other women, she's a highly trained and kick-ass athlete.
I seriously doubt they'll allow her to compete with the men and, if she did, they would probably call foul because she's lighter than them. The argument there is that a lighter weight guarantees her more speed; this is the same argument male race car drivers and jockeys make when they compete against women.
If people of a properly defined and known sex competing in these events was so important to the governing bodies, they'd do all this "sex testing" before anyone could compete. Instead, they do it after the fact and embarrass the living hell out a child in public. I wonder what her life is going to be like now, after competition, with this well-known stigma hanging over her head. This reaches so far beyond some Europeans throwing a hissy fit that it's not funny: people get killed over this kind of stuff daily.
The "Huey" in me says that this incident may become a jump off for the sex of all black female athletes to be questioned in the future. Before, it was pure hate and jealousy. Now, there's a documented case and they can claim a pseudo-scientific foundation for their charges.
@Sphinx:
I don't think LGB advocates will care. It's my understanding that, overall, the gay community is hostile to people without clear sex demarcation (being male or female) while gender ambiguity or swap (IE butch lesbians and effeminate gay men) is ok. Trans-people are kind of on their own. Beyond that, people viewed as ethnic minorities are left out in the cold in that same community.
I think she looks cute with the makeover. I hope she didn't feel forced into it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to be "prettied up" for once. After, all she's only 18, so I wouldn't expect her to "suck it up" and be able to tolerate all of the mean comments people have about her appearance. (Everyone's entitled to his/her opinion, so I don't think someone who doesn't think she's pretty is "mean", but publicly embarrassing her was cruel.) Plus when you take peer pressure, dating, etc. into account, it's not surprising she would want to be more "girly".
I also read an article stating that he is a hermaphrodite according to initial tests. The icing on the cake is the fact the she has no ovaries bit testes (sp) that alone would make him more male than female. Even the mag pic looks like a man in women's clothes and make-up. Caster has both a penis and a vagina. He is basically a "man with feminine characteristics" rather than a masculine woman.
If anything good comes out of this, it will be awareness that intersexed people exist and should be respected like all men and women.
See folks are already jumping the gun, the IAAF is urging the media not to jump the gun about the test results, as they have not officially been released. They claim the papers who released this information, have not revealed their source, so there is no way to tell if it is reliable.
Irresponsible reporting does not lead to fact. Irresponsible reporting and handling of her "issue" is why Caster is in the mess she is in. Obviously her external organs do show she is a female. Is she a great beauty, no, but her situation has been completely mishandled by the media and the IAAF, and they are obviously still jumping the gun and making a rush to judgement.
Personally I find it sad, she has to go through this at all, and it isn't like she hid being a man, if she does indeed have testes, but rather she was born "different".
Mmmhmm. I knew it all along. The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman.
Uuhhhmm because it seemed the only reason her gender came into question was that she was "too good", if she had been a mediocre runner, would this test have gone on? Not to mention the way it was handled was to internationally embarrass someone. If you are ok with that fine, but I find it reprehensible, sad, and pathetic, that the world even knows this is going on. We should be knowing something after the fact, not before, and now again, per the news story I linked, people are jumping the gun, it seems to provide even more fodder at the expense of Semenya.
"Mmmhmm. I knew it all along. The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman."
I believe everyone here came to her defense because she's a Black "woman" under attack. This entire gender-testing issue should've been done more discreetly b/c unfortunately the biggest loser in this, even if he/she gets to get the medal, is Semeneya.
I had no doubt in my mind he/she wasn't 100% woman. It's just too obvious. Who knows, Caster's parents might be to blame too. They probably knew she was "different" since birth but chose to designate her sex for her. I mean, no ovaries means no menstruation. C'mon. Somebody knew something.
Of course the IAAF would come out with their statement as they have to cover their arses due to the legal firestorm that will undoubtedly arise when they finally admit the truth. It will also show that they were duped as well. They don't even say that the reports are wrong but that the info didn't come from them. Remember, some media outlets declared Michael Jackson's death before it was officially released. The same with Fawcet's cancer. There is always someone willing to leak info for a price. I suspect that Caster's coach and maybe even his family were complicit in this fraud (IMO). People are born with all kinds of abnormalities. Caster isn't the first and she won't be the last.
"The tests concluded that Caster is a hermaphrodite, with three times the testosterone of a normal woman. The test also showed that Caster has no womb or ovaries and that she does have “internal testes.”
The sun is a tabloid. I wouldn't put much faith in that paper, but that is just me. I guess I am just waiting for official results, which they now claim won't come out until Nov.
It hasn't been made official, some newspapers have leaked the story, but there is no confirmation.
"Euro-beauty equals acceptance because of the obvious influence and power, yes, but definitely not the global standard."
It wasn't that global standard but with globalization it is heading fast that way.
"My WASP husband grew up around tanned blondes and said that when we met, I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen."
This is a common sentiment in Europe especially Scandinavian countries. Blondes don't turn heads. Latinas and Blacks do.
"The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman."
If you were really honest with your reading you would realize that there was a split in opinion. But people still condemned the way the IAAF handled the case. And from what I understand there is an investigation underway on how that happened.
She has a strong case against them. I hope she sues them. White female athletes in the same situation in the past were treated with alot more dignity.
I don't see what this has to do with Eurocentric ideals of beauty. She just has very visible male secondary traits, deep voice, big jaw, huge hands, facial hair, no breasts, no waist. I don't think the average Black/African woman looks like that, come on. Hormones will dictate different gender characteristics in all races, the PC police can moan all they want, but it's a fact. But who the hell cares, she is there to run, it's not a beauty pageant. She probably has a serious hormonal imbalance and the people at the IAAF should have treated this case with more consideration and sensitivity. I don't think she is a man though, you can't be a pro athlete and hide your gender, you'll be training with other people, showering with other people etc, you'll have numerous medical checks, you can't keep a willy a secret, not even an underdeveloped willy. Those two athletes, the Russian and the Italian, are probably just jealous of her performance, given that she's a newcomer. This magazine stunt is sad, I bet she was pressured to do it. I hope this circus will not discourage her to continue her career.
38 comments:
Wow...she does look very pretty, but you're right. It's a damn shame she had to prove that she's a woman. Really, a shame. SMGDH
I like her hair, I assume it's a braid out.
He just looks like a man wearing a dress and makeup now.
I don't think she needed to do that. If i was in her place, I'd probably put on a mustache just to spite the idiots questioning my gender. Media needs to back off and leave her the hell alone.
"I don't think she needed to do that. If i was in her place, I'd probably put on a mustache just to spite the idiots questioning my gender. Media needs to back off and leave her the hell alone."
She doesn't have to "put on a mustache", all she has to do is let her own grow in, since she most certainly had one before the makeover.
I saw this earlier. She looks very beautiful. Unbelieveable.
oh hush up Anon!
I disagree regarding the "beautiful" label. Not everyone was born or destined to be beautiful! That's a fact of life and there's nothing wrong with that. Is Caster talented? Yes!
I think he/she should just be his/herself and dress whichever way is most comfortable, because Caster is clearly very uncomfortable looking in that pic.
poor Caster that must have really took a toll on a person's self esteem male or female...
Well, she does look like a man in drag. She doesn't have the features for that nonsense into which they've got her rigged. The hair, the make-up, the awful neckline of the dress--- all just draw attention to the fact that her features aren't feminine.
Even the pose they have her in undermines her physical power and status--- the whole mess of that photograph is trying to make a diminutive, shrinking house fraulein out of a woman who burst into the global consciousness for being the track equivalent of the Williams sisters.
More to the point, the frippery suggests there's something very "wrong" about her natural features, something that must be "fixed" to make her more acceptable/more welcomed/more human.
Even worse, this nonsense plays directly into the hands of those who lambasted her for her looks in the first place.
Perhaps I'm being hyperbolic, but that cover makes me think: "Oh no, they're colonizing Africa all over again!" (Yes, I know that "You" is a South African magazine, but it's arguably a very Eurocentric one.)
To my mind, this cover is the equivalent of fashion magazines that say "We showcase Black women!", and then trot out fifty girls with twenty yards of weave, thousands of dollars in nose jobs, and skin so pale the light reflecting from it will blind you.
I can understand Caster wanting to feel feminine (if, indeed, that's the case, and she wasn't simply pressured into this by PR people). But if so, they should have found people who know what they're doing, who could have complimented her looks.
All that matters: were her wins legitimate in the context of the sports in which she competed? And the only reason that matters is because the unanswered question will hamper her the rest of her career.
I'd hate to be listening to a recap of her records in fifty-years, and hear every achievement followed up with some snide comment about her gender, and how the only way a woman--- especially a Black woman--- was able to succeed was because "she was really a man".
Ronia after reading that comment form you, I have to agree that you are a troll.
You trolls REALLY need to come up with creative ways.
"I disagree regarding the "beautiful" label. Not everyone was born or destined to be beautiful! That's a fact of life and there's nothing wrong with that. Is Caster talented? Yes!"
Let us not forget that beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder.
What standard are you using to determine that she is not beautiful? The Euro standard. If that is the case then, yes she ins't.
I have seen very good looking European men that would give Brad Pitt a good run for his money ( I personally don't find him attractive anyway but he seems like the standard for white men). Go crazy over what most would consider extremely unattractive African women.
We had one Big Brother Africa show and a British guy had a crush on a house mate that many Africans considered absolutely ugly. Semenya would look like Cindy Crawford next to her. But the guy thought she was absolutely gorgeous.
I see Semenya as beautiful and I can see many men being attracted to her.
So before you declare that someone is not beautifuul, ask your self, by whose standards. I have personally found many people unattractive that others thought were beautiful e.g. Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Castor looks the same to me. She just has her hair down and some gloss and eyeshadow on. I never saw her as ugly or thought that she was a man. She just looks like a physically fit woman whose appearance doesn't adhere to our standards of beauty (slender facial bone structure, long hair, big breasts, small waist, modest hips, etc). Even if she weren't as physically fit as she is, her face would look pretty much the same, she can't be blamed for her genes and phenotype.
@Anon 9:13 AM: You can't correct someone else's definition of beauty. No one is obligated to find beauty in what others find beautiful. If Grata thinks that Castor is beautiful, then so be it, you don't have to agree.
@ 3:08: uhhh, of course I don't have to agree with Grata's idea of beauty, which I why I disagreed in the first place, lol.
And Grata, no I don't find Caster unattractive because I value the European idea of beauty. Quite the contrary, actually. Brad and Paltrow? Totally overrated in the looks department, imo.
Caster just strikes me as very masculine and it has nothing to do with her skin tone, hair or muscular physique.
She/he has that Bea Arthur vibe to me (God rest her)
To repeat what I said earlier, everybody wasn't meant to be born beautiful! Why does that create such sensitivity? Nevermind. I already know that answer.
Grata---
How am I troll? And in what way am I shallow? While you were reading my comment, did you actually comprehend any of it?
Or were you so offended originally by my assessment that she looks like a man in drag that it simply arrested your ability to fully process the comment?
"To repeat what I said earlier, everybody wasn't meant to be born beautiful! Why does that create such sensitivity? Nevermind. I already know that answer."
Agreed, not everyone was meant to be born beautiful. But we must first define what makes beauty. Its is all relative.
SO far the universally accepted standard of beauty is the Euro one. And Caster doesn't pass that one.
I just rememebered an incident as a child and a older neighbor of ours(who came from a different tribe that phenotypically has round noses that were refered to as bowls) said if she travelled to Europe she would just be staring at Eurpean noses. She said this not in admiration but because she found them rather strange like a beaks of birds.
So here you have people that have had little exposure to Western culture and they think that European looks are very strange. Semenya would actually fit well in that tribe. The women are usually very lean and a "man" like. They are the only tribe were women comfortably ride bicycles. This is generally unheard of in other tribes. Its a man's job to do that.
So in their standards of beauty, Caster is beautiful.
Beauty I believe should be judged against the standards one's ethnic back ground. (though many are switching to the Western Standard) Each one has their own standards of beauty and against Caster's own she may or may not be beautiful. But from what I see, she is beautiful.
The picture isn't flattering at all, but it's an attempt. I feel for Caster having to "prove" her femininity this way. There's more to being a woman than stylish hair, clothes, and makeup.
Every woman can't be a "beauty", and there's nothing wrong with that. Felicity Huffman talked about this in reference to her role in "Transamerica". That said, I don't think the standard of beauty is European. We're drawn to what we like as individuals, whether or not we're willing to admit it.
Euro-beauty equals acceptance because of the obvious influence and power, yes, but definitely not the global standard. My WASP husband grew up around tanned blondes and said that when we met, I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It's definitely in the eye of the beholder. As much as I despise feel-good cliches, this one is true in my experience.
This may be farfetched but while she has the world's attention....I wonder if she's using that to her advantage????/
Beauty is so interesting.
I once knew a man who I thought was handsome. Nice. etc. Then when he turned out to be a phedophile, that same person became ugly.
She looks beautiful. Can I take back my former post? (smile).
So today, there was an article that said they found out that she didn't have a womb or ovaries, and had an extremely high level of testasterone (like 3 times that of a woman). They are categorizing her as a hermaphrodite. I think this is really sad how the media is exploiting her like this. I think LGBT advocates are going to be all over the track association if they pull her.
Who are we to tell her she's not a woman, if she identifies with being a woman? But I must say, she does look quite manly. Especially pre-makeover.
Mmmhmm. I knew it all along. The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman.
I feel bad for her because what's between her legs and in amongst her guts aren't her fault. It's also sad that people forget that sex and gender are two different things.
Many individuals have left comments on this blog and newspaper articles pointing to arbitrary physical traits, like the presence of a moustache or presence or absence of a uterus, as the gospel of sex. Newsflash: lots of women, "normal" women, have facial hair and a goodly number of that same group have no wombs because they were not born with them or they were surgically removed...but they can still compete as women.
You've got women who give birth to babies that aren't theirs by virtue of their "normal" girly bits being formed with the genetic material of the X chromosome not used in the rest of their bodies. There are girls who are really boys that aren't sensitive to the testosterone floating about in their bloodstreams at levels a bojillion times higher than the "normal" woman, so their penises and male secondary sex characteristics never develop. They're only discovered when a concerned mom realizes her little girl doesn't have a monthly visitor well past the time it should've arrived. In a female athlete with little body fat this is common *coughgymnastscough*, so in an elite competitive runner in her teens, chances are no one would bat an eye. The human body is a damn trip and most of its hiccups go unnoticed and unseen.
I think the information was released in the way it was to embarrass and shame her. Where, exactly, is she supposed to compete now? If she has the surgery and lives as a woman, will they let her compete again? Irrespective of her physiological differences from a majority of other women, she's a highly trained and kick-ass athlete.
I seriously doubt they'll allow her to compete with the men and, if she did, they would probably call foul because she's lighter than them. The argument there is that a lighter weight guarantees her more speed; this is the same argument male race car drivers and jockeys make when they compete against women.
If people of a properly defined and known sex competing in these events was so important to the governing bodies, they'd do all this "sex testing" before anyone could compete. Instead, they do it after the fact and embarrass the living hell out a child in public. I wonder what her life is going to be like now, after competition, with this well-known stigma hanging over her head. This reaches so far beyond some Europeans throwing a hissy fit that it's not funny: people get killed over this kind of stuff daily.
The "Huey" in me says that this incident may become a jump off for the sex of all black female athletes to be questioned in the future. Before, it was pure hate and jealousy. Now, there's a documented case and they can claim a pseudo-scientific foundation for their charges.
@Sphinx:
I don't think LGB advocates will care. It's my understanding that, overall, the gay community is hostile to people without clear sex demarcation (being male or female) while gender ambiguity or swap (IE butch lesbians and effeminate gay men) is ok. Trans-people are kind of on their own. Beyond that, people viewed as ethnic minorities are left out in the cold in that same community.
I think she looks cute with the makeover. I hope she didn't feel forced into it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to be "prettied up" for once. After, all she's only 18, so I wouldn't expect her to "suck it up" and be able to tolerate all of the mean comments people have about her appearance. (Everyone's entitled to his/her opinion, so I don't think someone who doesn't think she's pretty is "mean", but publicly embarrassing her was cruel.) Plus when you take peer pressure, dating, etc. into account, it's not surprising she would want to be more "girly".
I also read an article stating that he is a hermaphrodite according to initial tests. The icing on the cake is the fact the she has no ovaries bit testes (sp) that alone would make him more male than female. Even the mag pic looks like a man in women's clothes and make-up. Caster has both a penis and a vagina. He is basically a "man with feminine characteristics" rather than a masculine woman.
If anything good comes out of this, it will be awareness that intersexed people exist and should be respected like all men and women.
See folks are already jumping the gun, the IAAF is urging the media not to jump the gun about the test results, as they have not officially been released. They claim the papers who released this information, have not revealed their source, so there is no way to tell if it is reliable.
Irresponsible reporting does not lead to fact. Irresponsible reporting and handling of her "issue" is why Caster is in the mess she is in. Obviously her external organs do show she is a female. Is she a great beauty, no, but her situation has been completely mishandled by the media and the IAAF, and they are obviously still jumping the gun and making a rush to judgement.
Personally I find it sad, she has to go through this at all, and it isn't like she hid being a man, if she does indeed have testes, but rather she was born "different".
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/09/11/athletics.semenya.gender.iaaf/
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Mmmhmm. I knew it all along. The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman.
Uuhhhmm because it seemed the only reason her gender came into question was that she was "too good", if she had been a mediocre runner, would this test have gone on? Not to mention the way it was handled was to internationally embarrass someone. If you are ok with that fine, but I find it reprehensible, sad, and pathetic, that the world even knows this is going on. We should be knowing something after the fact, not before, and now again, per the news story I linked, people are jumping the gun, it seems to provide even more fodder at the expense of Semenya.
"Mmmhmm. I knew it all along. The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman."
I believe everyone here came to her defense because she's a Black "woman" under attack. This entire gender-testing issue should've been done more discreetly b/c unfortunately the biggest loser in this, even if he/she gets to get the medal, is Semeneya.
I had no doubt in my mind he/she wasn't 100% woman. It's just too obvious.
Who knows, Caster's parents might be to blame too. They probably knew she was "different" since birth but chose to designate her sex for her. I mean, no ovaries means no menstruation. C'mon. Somebody knew something.
Of course the IAAF would come out with their statement as they have to cover their arses due to the legal firestorm that will undoubtedly arise when they finally admit the truth. It will also show that they were duped as well. They don't even say that the reports are wrong but that the info didn't come from them. Remember, some media outlets declared Michael Jackson's death before it was officially released. The same with Fawcet's cancer. There is always someone willing to leak info for a price. I suspect that Caster's coach and maybe even his family were complicit in this fraud (IMO). People are born with all kinds of abnormalities. Caster isn't the first and she won't be the last.
This is also the media who jumped on the Ashley Todd story
Its offical. She is a She/He.
"The tests concluded that Caster is a hermaphrodite, with three times the testosterone of a normal woman. The test also showed that Caster has no womb or ovaries and that she does have “internal testes.”
"Semenya is claimed to have NO womb or ovaries — and has internal testes, the male sexual organs which produce testosterone. "
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2631482/Runner-is-a-hermaphrodite.html
The sun is a tabloid. I wouldn't put much faith in that paper, but that is just me. I guess I am just waiting for official results, which they now claim won't come out until Nov.
It hasn't been made official, some newspapers have leaked the story, but there is no confirmation.
She's withdrawing from a race and will likely be stripped of gold medal.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Semenya-withdraws-from-race-amidst-reports-she-s?urn=oly,188930
"How am I troll? And in what way am I shallow? While you were reading my comment, did you actually comprehend any of it?"
I usually call people trolls quite sparingly and usually it is well deserved. I don't recall calling you a troll. Did I?
"Euro-beauty equals acceptance because of the obvious influence and power, yes, but definitely not the global standard."
It wasn't that global standard but with globalization it is heading fast that way.
"My WASP husband grew up around tanned blondes and said that when we met, I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen."
This is a common sentiment in Europe especially Scandinavian countries. Blondes don't turn heads. Latinas and Blacks do.
"The thing I don't get is why so many BW here were so eager to believe Caster is a "normal" woman."
If you were really honest with your reading you would realize that there was a split in opinion. But people still condemned the way the IAAF handled the case. And from what I understand there is an investigation underway on how that happened.
She has a strong case against them. I hope she sues them. White female athletes in the same situation in the past were treated with alot more dignity.
OMG. She is perhaps the most hideous looking person I've seen in my entire life....and that's real.
I don't see what this has to do with Eurocentric ideals of beauty. She just has very visible male secondary traits, deep voice, big jaw, huge hands, facial hair, no breasts, no waist. I don't think the average Black/African woman looks like that, come on. Hormones will dictate different gender characteristics in all races, the PC police can moan all they want, but it's a fact. But who the hell cares, she is there to run, it's not a beauty pageant.
She probably has a serious hormonal imbalance and the people at the IAAF should have treated this case with more consideration and sensitivity. I don't think she is a man though, you can't be a pro athlete and hide your gender, you'll be training with other people, showering with other people etc, you'll have numerous medical checks, you can't keep a willy a secret, not even an underdeveloped willy.
Those two athletes, the Russian and the Italian, are probably just jealous of her performance, given that she's a newcomer. This magazine stunt is sad, I bet she was pressured to do it. I hope this circus will not discourage her to continue her career.
"OMG. She is perhaps the most hideous looking person I've seen in my entire life....and that's real."
I bet you someone finds you hideous looking, LOL!
Again its all relative. With that kind of comment I would bet that you are unattractive.
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