South Africa Sports belies real Semenya sex verification

Why am I doing this post? I saw this news headline and decided not to ignore the Semenya case any longer: Seizure Makes Woman Mistake Herself for a Man.

Now I am seeing this new headline for the first time: Semenya's coach lied to her that the test she would take would be for dope screening and not gender certainty!

Gender issues and the determination of gender can be quite touchy issues. So much so that the South African Sports Minister has been noted to have declared that there would be a Third World War if any body prevents Semenya from running as a teenage girl, or casts aspersions on her femininity.

Are you male or female? What makes you so sure? Most people may find that question very easy to answer - "Are you blind?" may often be the quick indignant retort.

However, others may just become mum for uncertainty and self-consciousness - like the current Women's 800 meters World Champion from South Africa, Caster Semenya.

Let's just say that s(he) has been a special case. When I first saw her backward-braided hair, taut face and high cheek bones, impossibly tight torso, and heard her deep voice on television, I muttered something to myself about a fellow man in the ladies dressing room.

You know...something like a rooster in the hen pen... wolf in sheep's clothing...

I suspect that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) somehow felt violated and decided to investigate, especially concerning her/his brewing mustachio and sideboards or facial sideburns and prominently flat bosom.

Finally, the truth is out in recent news that the South African sports authorities had known about her man-woman condition even before the World Athletics Championships began but had decided to bluff their way through, no matter whose ox was gored.

However, the IAAF will let the cat out of the bag much later on this year, when they would have been sure of their facts after the results of the gender tests done so far have been interpreted by the relevant experts.

Meanwhile, holidaying Diego Amando Maradona, the Argentinian soccer legend, has had his diamond studded earrings confiscated by Italian local government district Police as part payment for his outstanding tax indebtedness while playing professionally for Napoli ages ago.

The wearing of earrings by sportsmen obviously often compounds the issue of gender identification.

What does it mean when a man wears an earring on either ear? Does it mean something else when it is worn on both ear lobes?

I recall here a television documentary I saw a decade or so ago about how homosexuals identify sexual preferences amongst themselves - I think the Gay Rights issue had not cropped up then - by checking to see whether the exposed hankie in the back pocket was hung on the left or right hand side, looking from behind.

I think I remember the commentary being that the left-hung meant preference for the male role and vice versa...

Anyway, the following are interesting articles about gender determination issues:

A note on "gender tests"

Is it a boy or a girl?

SparkLife Gender test

Trans Gender Test

Gender Prediction Test

First Woman Ascends to Top Drill Sergeant Spot

First woman to take top drill sergeant spot

Let Semenya run’

The complexities of sexual identity

Crowds greet gender-test athlete

The gender trap: testing the sex of Olympians competing in Beijing

Gender Identity Disorder - characteristics and treatment

Caster Semenya Gender Test Results

Gender Identity Disorder

Olympic Gender Testing

Gender identity disorder: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

Psych Central: Gender Identity Disorder Symptoms

Gender verification in sports

Gender Identity Disorder - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment

Maradona pays tax debt with diamonds

Maradona keeps finding himself in taxing situations

Maradona pays off tax bill in earrings

Police Nab Maradona's Earrings to Pay Tax Bill

Italian tax police take Maradona's earrings

Police nab Maradona's earrings to pay tax bill

Italian policemen bling twice — take Maradona's earrings to help pay ...

Police seize Maradona's earrings

Gender identity disorder - Overview

SAfrican in gender flap gets gold for 800 win

Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders

'No!' - Chuene to his own tune

Transsexual Tests

Gender Identity Disorder in Children

Indian runner knows about gender-test backlash