'Dropping your pants ain't proof enough!'

By Cynthia Ayeza Mutabaazi

I have been following the now controversial tales and rumours surrounding Caster Semenya. She holds a one minute, 56,72 seconds, 800m record, but not without question. The latest in track and field history, the Semenya controversy may very well leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many. According to her family, Semenya is female and they cannot blame God for the way He made their child. However, the various media reports swirling around Semenya’s case point to plenty of confusion in as far as the difference between sex and gender is concerned. The sex of a person is used in reference to sexual organs while one’s gender is more to do with a person’s self perception or self-portrayal.

During a chat about Semenya, a friend asked an interesting question — at what point to do you let a little girl know that she may not “pass” as a woman simply because she was born a hermaphrodite? And, I wonder, would you dare to explain away a child’s make or nature to the very child? Naturally, at 18 one experiences various identity issues internally and externally, at home or at school — whatever the environment. Reading through the various reports and insensitive rumours on Semenya made me realise that humanity is in fact cruel, largely as a natural instinct. I am greatly disappointed in the Berlin audience that booed Semenya’s win — that’s the last thing you want to do to an excited 18-year-old, who just made her big break on the track. Even if it were to be proven that she is of hermaphroditic origin, it does not make her any less the girl that she is.

I’m terrified of the thought that I may not freely bring a child into the world for if their talent were to take them to greater heights, their success will be measured against their gender or sexuality.

I understand that a man may not compete in a race meant for women only and vice versa. However, the way some bodies or organisations (IAAF and the media) have dealt with what ideally could be termed a sensitive matter, leaves plenty to be desired of their methods, duties and responsibility towards humanity. To take this a little further — to what some may refer to as “small politics” — how is the young girl ever to look in the mirror and appreciate her beauty? How could she cherish her femininity within what the world is defining for her as masculinity? How could she make sense of the booing sound after her victory? I wonder what she must have felt after discovering that the booing had something to do with an unfairly imposed expectation and requirement to be less masculine but rather be more “acceptably” feminine? Would it make any sense to her? Will it ever? Could she ever relate to words such as — pretty, lovely, beautiful, cute, adorable, angelic, gorgeous … the whole frivolous list? After all, they are words that have been created by the same people that pass cruel judgement on her gender, and sexuality. In this sense, these words too are cruel — because they immediately exclude — yet unavoidably!

I wonder, does she have a right to choose what or who she is or can be as per gender or sex? The view from the outside is a choice that the world has already made for her: even the infuriated ones think she looks more like a man than a woman.

Thinking out loud: “We are firstly human before anything else and that counts for a lot, however, it is no excuse to behave as we please. We have a responsibility to one another — that is humanity.”

Mutabaazi is enrolled at the University of Pretoria, where she is reading for an MA in Media Studies.