lady looks like a dude (and give her a fucking break about it)
I was very interested last week in the story of Santhi Soundarajan, the Indian runner whose silver medal in the Asian Games has been stripped due to her failing a gender test. Here's the basic story:
More poking around turned up an ESPN story that reports Soundarajan as having "more Y chromosomes than allowed," and this article from Mumbai's Afternoon newspaper, which asserts that she has "ambiguous genitalia."
Yahoo! Answers should get spanked for designating "I think he is just trying to win" as the "Best Answer." This blogger does a far better job, noting "It's not like there is an intersex competition or a genderqueer competition. It's not like Soundarajan necessarily even knew she was chromosomally intersex. This disqualification is ridiculous, and yet more evidence that the gender binary doesn't work."
The strangest thing I turned up was, first, Soundarajan's coach asserting that Soundarajan's "upbringing in impoverished rural India, where she reportedly only started eating proper meals in 2004, may be a reason behind the test result." What?
Sounds bizarre, but the Washington Post agrees that poor nutrition can alter a gender test (at least assuming the WashPo fact-checks its blog just as it does its print content).
Who knew? Malnutrition can butch you up.
(and the blazer ain't helping, darlin')
I was waiting for an update on this story -- commenters seemed to think she was some kind of lying cross-dresser, whereas instead it seemed fairly likely that she was an intersexed person who, growing up in rural poverty, lacked medical care or knowledge of such conditions. (When your family's on the verge of starvation, you probably don't waste a lot of effort getting your daughter's three-inch clitoris looked at).NEW DELHI, India (AP) - An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters in the Asian Games this month has failed a gender test....
The test reports sent to the Indian Olympic Association on Sunday said Soudarajan "does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman," The Times of India reported.... The medical evaluation panel usually includes a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, and an internal medicine specialist.
Sports officials in the athlete's home state of Tamil Nadu said that they have no information on her whereabouts.
More poking around turned up an ESPN story that reports Soundarajan as having "more Y chromosomes than allowed," and this article from Mumbai's Afternoon newspaper, which asserts that she has "ambiguous genitalia."
Yahoo! Answers should get spanked for designating "I think he is just trying to win" as the "Best Answer." This blogger does a far better job, noting "It's not like there is an intersex competition or a genderqueer competition. It's not like Soundarajan necessarily even knew she was chromosomally intersex. This disqualification is ridiculous, and yet more evidence that the gender binary doesn't work."
The strangest thing I turned up was, first, Soundarajan's coach asserting that Soundarajan's "upbringing in impoverished rural India, where she reportedly only started eating proper meals in 2004, may be a reason behind the test result." What?
Sounds bizarre, but the Washington Post agrees that poor nutrition can alter a gender test (at least assuming the WashPo fact-checks its blog just as it does its print content).
Who knew? Malnutrition can butch you up.
(and the blazer ain't helping, darlin')
posted by JenIsFamous at 12/27/2006 04:18:00 PM
5 Comments:
In the words of Aerosmith, "Ya, ya, dude looks like a lady.."
There is a first time for everything, and for once I must disagree with you, Jen. The issue is not whether Ms. Soundarajan has a deprivation narrative; it is whether she is chromosomally a woman as defined by a fair and objective test, to which all competitors are subjected. Period. Ms. Soundarajan would be unable to compete as a woman were she taking steroids or other banned substances, right? Well, similarly--and however unfortunately for her--there are tests used to conclude, STRICTLY FOR THE PURPOSES OF DEFINING COMPETITION ELIGIBILITY [emphasis added], who is or isn't a woman.
The I.O.C., which sets the guidelines followed by the Asian Games, is in fact rather egalitarian in its treatment of the transgendered, intersexed, hermaphroditic, etc. I say that because the I.O.C. rules subject all competitors--from the impoverished Ms. Soundarajan to the blue-blooded equestrienne Princess Anne of the United Kingdom--to the same testing guidelines and reaches the same conclusion: more than a certain level of testosterone, whether occurring naturally or as a result of "boosting", renders a would-be competitor ineligible. And no one cares how it got there.
Is it fortunate for Ms. Soundarajan that, through no fault of her own, she exists in a sort of gender limbo? I suppose. But at a certain point, we all have to accept that distinctions do exist in this world. And Ms. Soundarajan is distinguishable from "women" or "girls", at least insofar as those terms are defined by the governing body of a sport. So she can't compete against the girls. Well, neither could Wilt Chamberlain. Neither can I.
That's life.
Matt, none of the reports indicate that she tested with a high level of testosterone. (And a high level of testosterone doesn't necessarily mean anything -- taking birth control pills puts extra female hormones into your system, which causes your body to produce more natural testosterone to maintain a balance, but that certainly doesn't give you an athletic advantage).
I don't remember which article stated that XXY chromosomes don't create a competitive advantage, but that's certainly a worthwhile fact.
I don't think having a tiny undeveloped penis helps you run faster. Maybe she gets in an extra training day due to never having menstrual cramps? Bah.
Jen
Jen, I realize that there may be no good reason to imagine that Ms. Soundarajan would have a particular advantage over any other woman. My argument was rather that the proscription against persons who fail(admittedly arbitrary) tests used to determine who is or isn't female, FOR THE PURPOSES OF COMPETITION [emphasis again added], is rather egalitarian. As I suggested, if the screen is for, say, testosterone levels, it doesn't matter to what "abnormally" high levels are attributable, or even that those levels would not be what you or I might call "abnormal" (e.g., your point well-taken about the "side-effects" of birth control pills). Rather, what would be germane, simply, would be whether those levels were exceeded or weren't; whether a would-be competitor has too many Y chromosomes; etc.
I think where we may differ, is in our sense that "accidents of condition" should give rise to the defense, "Yeah, but it's not my FAULT!" I say, "So what?" Sure, it may not be Ms. Soundarajan's fault that she was born into abject poverty whereas Princess Anne was born into royalty--and, I might add, thanks to the rules of equally arbitrary primogeniture will never be Queen of England--but as we both learned at a parent's knee if not just through experience, life isn't fair.
I can live with that; if for no other reason than because I seem to have little choice.
Clitenis. Peniclit. Which do you prefer? I say #1.
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