Testosterone boosts women's athletic performance, study shows

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[–]Realwoman 23 insightful - 1 fun23 insightful - 0 fun24 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

The sex is clear - male. Semenya has (had) testes and went through make puberty. His body was developed in the direction of producing smaller gametes (sperm), so his sex is male. Now, his body also has a problem with some of the male hormones. I think he can't produce dihydrotestosterone, and dihydrotestosterone is responsible for the testes descending and some other sexual development in utero. That's why he had ambiguous genitalia when he was born but he doesn't have ovaries, he has testes. Not normally developed testes, but testes. And also he produces and reacts to testosterone normally. So he's a male with a birth defect

[–]Lyssa 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I would not call the (rare) cases where there is a mismatch between chromosomes, gonads, external appearance of genitalia and hormones "clear". These intersex people are truely "non-binary" and for all I care can generally live as a man or a woman or something in between as they prefer and without making changes to the body they've been born with. I consider the fight of intersex people against mandatory surgery and for an "intersex" option on ID documents very justified. And they have pushed back against being appropriated by TRAs who fight for the exact opposite (medicalizing children to make them gender conforming).

However, Semenya should not be allowed to start in womens' sports because of her obvious advantage.

[–]Realwoman 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Sex is pretty clearly defined actually. You can see here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/zaelefty/status/1262405372230459393

Saying that sex is clear doesn't equal support for unnecessary surgeries. Sex is binary. Semenya has a disorder of male sexual development.

[–]Lyssa 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I am aware that gametes are the deciding factor for biologists. However, if somebody has the chromosomes, external genitalia and socialization of the opposing sex it strikes me as both oversimplistic to say "disordered male, nothing more to it". Your own link includes the following statement: "In humans, this sexual dimorphism is so consistent that 99.98% of births are unambiguously male or female." So biologists do recognise - exceedingly rare - disambiguations within the binary system. That is not the same as to (incorrectly) state that sex is a spectrum.

Are you generally opposed to the definition/labelling of certain rare conditions as "intersex"? And if Semenya would not be winning womens' medals but just be somebody observed female at birth, raised as a girl and suddenly developing male characteristics at puberty (probably a distressing experience) would you call her "him" after you'd heard that internal testicals have been found? Should that not be her/his own right to decide?

[–]Realwoman 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, it's her or his right to decide although it looks like s/he was aware of the her condition from a young age, it's apparently more common where she lives.

I'm not opposed to the intersex label, but from I understand, it's not a scientific or medical term. Each condition is unique. Semenya's condition maker her or him a male for sure. But if we're talking about complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, for example, I think calling those people women is justified.