Yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sports, ruled in favor of discrimination against intersex athletes by saying that it was necessary for the IAAF, the governing body for athletics worldwide, to require competitors with higher than average testosterone levels to medically alter their bodies in order to compete as women.
The ruling explicitly targeted Caster Semenya, a successful Black queer woman sprinter from South Africa, whose body naturally produces higher than average levels of testosterone. Semenya has not volunteered language for how she self-describes her sex, gender, or body other than an earlier statement: “I am a woman and I am fast.”
Unless she decides to appeal the decision, Caster will now be subject to violations of her medical privacy and have to take testosterone-lowering drugs to compete in world-class track events. Yet testosterone alone has long been debunked as a link to competitive advantage for women. It is not policed similarly in men’s categories, and the Court’s restrictions are, suspiciously, limited to running events in which Caster would compete. So what gives?
Caster’s case has long been contentious and closely watched, attention that has been exacerbated by her competitors — usually white, European, cisgender and non-intersex women — who perceive her to be a different kind of feminine competitor, which is to say, not feminine enough. And in the world of sports, anatomical markers of biological gender are still closely scrutinized more generally, as evidenced by a long history of practices like genital exams and chromosome testing. But sex is nowhere near as clear-cut as the IAAF, politicians, and transphobes imagine it to be. Sex can also be moved to where they imagine it to be. YouTuber Natalie Wynn perfectly captures this in her reaction to the ruling: “Gender bends biology to its will.”
People have long tried to identify a “true” sign of sex on the human body; in earlier centuries, intersex people were defined by, and forced into social positions based on, their gonads. When that proved cumbersome, medical authorities shifted toward looking at their genitals. When genitals proved to have loopholes and gray areas, chromosomes became more appealing, an answer written in the genes. Except that elements of complex categories like sex, which are made into social differences, can’t be neatly and universally pinpointed. That’s the kind of thinking that brought us scientific racism.
This is a classic theme for intersex people: we are expected to irreversibly change our bodies to pass through authorities’ moving goal posts. We sometimes have no choice, in order to salvage our dignity, privacy, and careers. Most intersex public awareness campaigns deal with the core issue of irreversible sex-normalizing surgeries on infants. Surgeries used to be determined by what doctors thought about genital appearance, but some modern practitioners have shifted to using chromosomes to “predict” what surgeries should be done based on a person’s medicalized intersex diagnosis and most likely “future gender.” What some don’t realize is how pervasive these themes are in intersex lives. Like transgender people, who we are is often expected to be anchored by the body parts we have and what medical experiences we’ve been through.
As communications director for interACT, an organization that advocates for intersex youth, I asked friends and fellow interACT youth advocates about what the ruling against Semenya means for discrimination against people like us. Their thoughts and reactions are collected below, because this decision’s impact goes far beyond sports.
Lehlohonolo Khumalo (she/her), 28,
interACT Youth advocate and model in South Africa
This is an absolute insult to Caster as an athlete and as a human being. She should not have to take medication to suppress hormones that naturally occur in her body in order to compete. In spite of the decision, I have full faith that she will rise and thrive.
Amanda Saenz (they/them), 24,
interACT Youth Program Manager and former athlete in Seattle
To witness any international organization claim that discrimination is justified on the basis of difference leaves an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. This lays the groundwork for other forms of discrimination to exist and flourish. Forcing Caster Semenya, herself an exemplar of speed and willpower, to medically alter her body under the guise of fairness is nothing short of modern eugenics.
Manami Mao (she/her), 20,
interACT Youth advocate and singer in New York City
As a woman born intersex, I will never give up the fight to see people like me live their hopes and dreams. I am outraged that in 2019, the system still fails to acknowledge our presence. Athletes like Caster Semenya are paving the way. Taking away Caster’s rights means taking away mine, too. If unfair things like this continue to happen, we could lose our freedom to be ourselves and choose the careers that bring us happiness. I hope medical and judicial systems start to understand who we are. We exist.
Mari Wrobi (they/them), 22,
interACT Youth advocate and runner in Sacramento
This ruling tells me that my body needs to be put under a microscope, forcibly regulated, and changed in a way that suggests there is something wrong with me, when changing my body is what would actually be unnatural.
Robyn Foley (they/them), 24,
interACT Youth advocate in Austin
My stomach dropped when I saw the news about Caster. It's terrifying that people are getting away with this kind of awful mistreatment! Especially when an organization's power is being used to prevent an intersex person of color from achieving their dreams!
Fatima Mahmud (she/her), 21,
interACT Youth advocate and former athlete in Saudi Arabia and Berkeley
I played a lot of sports in high school. At that point in my life I didn't know I was intersex. If the decision on Caster had been made then, it would have completely changed my experience. I live in Saudi Arabia, so it’s not like I would have any rights to fight for my gender identity, as much as one can in the States. I guess I was lucky that my performance wasn’t Earth-shattering, because it spared me from the type of scrutiny that Caster has gotten. But there is always a “what if” that remains for me.
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