So this class wasn't kidding when it says its about sports and gender. After reading the article "The Gender Trap" I couldn't not believe the recent history of athletes that had questions determining whether they were male or female. If you told me, "Did you hear that such and such got tested?" I would immediately think that they were being tested for steroids. However, the article picks out many moments where women athletes where questioned in the Olympics for well not being women. They were suspected of being men or having male chromosomes. Until I read this article I had no idea that there was so many cases and that the Beijing Olympics even was evaluating athletes.
After looking at the cases, I felt bad for just about every women. The exception was Dora Ratjen because it seems that she was all for cheating and winning the gold for Germany. It's pretty bad that at the time she didn't even want to share a shower. However, it was hard for him to say no if the Nazi's were making him enter as a woman. I'm sure the consequences of him saying no were not pretty. The athlete I felt worse for was Edinanci Silva. She was born with two different organs and decided to be woman. She has surgery and accepts herself as a woman and truthfully if someone wants to see them self as a woman or man then it should be accepted. She was allowed to compete as a woman and to have Natalie Jenkins call her a he was unacceptable. To me that is just a sore loser. She took a test and was proven to be a female, so Natalie really needs to be more mature in that situation.
The problem that I have with the testing is how humiliating it is for the athlete. The tests will not be conducted on every female athlete, but will be required if serious doubts have been raised about an individual competitor (Saner, 2008). When I read this I was not pleased. I don't think they should test every female, but do a random test on every other or something. If I was a female and was tested and knew I wasn't a male it would really hurt my feelings. That's basically saying there is something wrong with me. The testing method should be random or at least tell athletes it was. The media and fans are all going to have comments if they know a female is being tested to see if she may indeed be a male. Thus, the testing results should be kept more secret between the athlete and the Olympics. Making it an open issue isn't necessary that is only humiliating the athletes reputation even more.
After looking at the cases, I felt bad for just about every women. The exception was Dora Ratjen because it seems that she was all for cheating and winning the gold for Germany. It's pretty bad that at the time she didn't even want to share a shower. However, it was hard for him to say no if the Nazi's were making him enter as a woman. I'm sure the consequences of him saying no were not pretty. The athlete I felt worse for was Edinanci Silva. She was born with two different organs and decided to be woman. She has surgery and accepts herself as a woman and truthfully if someone wants to see them self as a woman or man then it should be accepted. She was allowed to compete as a woman and to have Natalie Jenkins call her a he was unacceptable. To me that is just a sore loser. She took a test and was proven to be a female, so Natalie really needs to be more mature in that situation.
The problem that I have with the testing is how humiliating it is for the athlete. The tests will not be conducted on every female athlete, but will be required if serious doubts have been raised about an individual competitor (Saner, 2008). When I read this I was not pleased. I don't think they should test every female, but do a random test on every other or something. If I was a female and was tested and knew I wasn't a male it would really hurt my feelings. That's basically saying there is something wrong with me. The testing method should be random or at least tell athletes it was. The media and fans are all going to have comments if they know a female is being tested to see if she may indeed be a male. Thus, the testing results should be kept more secret between the athlete and the Olympics. Making it an open issue isn't necessary that is only humiliating the athletes reputation even more.
1 comment:
I like your first sentence--yes, it really is about sport and gender! We definitely started with a controversial topic. I agree with you 100% when you made this statement: "The problem that I have with the testing is how humiliating it is for the athlete." That is so true that the testing has been humiliating. For Caster Semenya, everyone in the world knows of her situation, and she is only 18 years old! I wonder what becomes of her now that she has been found to be intersex.
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