{"id":9224,"date":"2016-08-17T13:22:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T12:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=9224"},"modified":"2016-09-03T16:38:55","modified_gmt":"2016-09-03T15:38:55","slug":"sorry-caster-semenya-you-arent-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/sorry-caster-semenya-you-arent-a-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry Caster Semenya, you aren’t a woman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Caster<\/a>
Caster Semenya holds the South African flag after testosterone-suppressing drugs pushed her into second place in the women’s 800m in London in 2012.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

P.P.S. Caster Semenya won the women’s 800m in Zurich in 1:56:45, as expected, on 1st September 2016, to win the Diamond League.<\/p>\n

P.S. Caster Semenya won the Olympic women’s 800m, as expected, in 1:55:28 on 21st August 2016.<\/p>\n

Tom Fordyce, writing on the BBC’s website<\/a><\/strong>, said Semenya’s Olympic win would ignite previous controversy about the athlete.<\/p>\n

So it proved, with Britain’s\u00a0Lynsey Sharp, Canada’s Melissa Bishop and Joanna Jozwik from Poland all saying the testosterone-fueled Semenya has an unfair advantage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEMENYA HAS INTERNAL TESTES, NOT OVARIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Semenya was sadly born ‘intersex’, with physical characteristics typically associated with both men and women. \u00a0Externally, one assumes ‘she’ looks like a woman. \u00a0But Semenya\u00a0lacks a womb or ovaries, and it is the latter which produce the female hormones\u00a0oestrogen and progesterone.<\/p>\n

Instead, according to Mike Hurst in the Australian Daily Telegraph<\/a><\/strong>, Semenya has internal testes. \u00a0These are doing what they do and generating the male hormone\u00a0testosterone. \u00a0Women, especially athletes, do produce\u00a0that hormone but at a maximum level less than a tenth that of the maximum for a man<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Caster Semenya ‘self-identifies’ as a woman but might equally ‘self-identify’ as a man. It’s a matter of choice. \u00a0But men’s races would be more difficult for Semenya to win.\u00a0Kenya’s David Rudisha won the 2016 Olympic men’s 800m in a time of 1:42.15. \u00a0Women’s races are an easier touch.<\/p>\n

DIAGNOSED WITH HYPERANDROGISM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fordyce says Semenya made no public comment after a\u00a0gold-medal-winning performance at the world championships in Berlin seven years ago<\/a><\/strong>, and neither have officials. Semenya\u00a0won the 800m by the biggest margin in history. \u00a0The athlete has tried not to release much information. \u00a0Nevertheless, details of internal organs have emerged. \u00a0It is also conceded there is a resulting diagnosis of hyperandrogenism, which leaves testosterone levels far in excess of the vast majority of women.<\/p>\n

Testosterone is the principal male sex hormone. It promotes among other physical effects muscle mass and strength. Women athletes do have testosterone, but at much lower levels than men. IAAF decided post-Berlin that an intersex athlete with the condition had an unfair advantage over the other women competing. \u00a0It is like an in-built performance-enhancing drug.<\/p>\n

\"Caster<\/a>
Caster Semenya’s physique betrays the high testosterone level of the intersex condition which gives her\/him an unfair advantage over genuine women athletes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IAAF THRESHOLD RULE CHALLENGED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four years ago, the IAAF decided that if a competitor had around three times higher levels of testosterone than naturally occured in 99% of female athletes, that competitor could not compete. \u00a0Even that ‘three times’ threshold looks absurdly high.<\/p>\n

Caster Semenya took medication to suppress testosterone levels, and her\/his results dropped back. \u00a0In London, in 2012, she\/he had to settle for silver.<\/p>\n

Then another intersex athlete, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, challenged the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism regulations. The Court for Arbitration in Sport ruled in July 2015<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that the IAAF had failed to provide enough evidence that testosterone improved female performance.<\/p>\n

Dutee Chand, on the world stage, is actually not that fast. \u00a0All sorts of factors affect running speed. \u00a0I’ll never beat Kelly Holmes. \u00a0(And don’t throw Phil 4:13 at me either.) \u00a0But elite men as a group run faster than elite women, and that is down to their testosterone levels. \u00a0In its controversial decision, the CAS suspended the hyperandrogenism regulations until July 2017 to give the IAAF time to gather evidence.<\/p>\n

\"Caster<\/a>
Caster Semenya comes first, as expected, in an\u00a02016 Olympic\u00a0women’s 800m semi-final.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UNFAIR TO GENUINE WOMEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, Chand, Semenya and any other intersex athletes are free to compete without medication. \u00a0Fordyce writes that Semenya’s subsequent results have been remarkable. She has not been ‘remotely challenged’ in races since (July 2015), he writes.<\/p>\n

We can all agree Caster is made in the image of God and should be treated with due respect. \u00a0The real question is, should an intersex person with her\/his characteristics\u00a0be allowed to compete in women’s sports events?<\/p>\n

Should we just close our eyes to the immediate and obvious disadvantage of true women lining up against someone with male internal organs built like a brick outhouse? \u00a0Who should the athletics authorities be fair to? \u00a0Athletic events are staged around the Bibilical assumption that God ‘made them male and female’. \u00a0There is no intermediate ‘intersex’ category.<\/p>\n

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD DEMANDED BY THE ALMIGHTY<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘We separate men and women into categories because we want women to be able to win some competitions,’ says Eric Vilain, professor of human genetics at UCLA and consultant to the IOC medical commission. ‘There is 10 to 12% difference between male and female athletic performance.’ \u00a0But he says\u00a0IAAF have \u00a0been set an impossible task. \u00a0The article in which he is quoted<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0also says women’s sports will not survive if the CAS ruling stands.<\/p>\n

Simple justice dictates if an athlete comes along with a genetic condition that does not fit into the male\/female divide, then sadly he\/she\u00a0should only be able to compete against men, not against women. \u00a0To allow intersex athletes to compete in women’s events is\u00a0unfair to genuine women athletes.<\/p>\n

\"Caster<\/a>
Caster Semenya (in jeans) in a ‘traditional wedding’ to Violet Raseboya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The word of God demands a ‘level playing field’:\u00a0Proverbs 16:11 A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same will also apply if a man-woman ‘transgender’ athlete demands to compete. \u00a0And there will be the same outcry from sexual politics activists. \u00a0Athletics has to take a stand now.<\/p>\n

CASTER MARRIED A WOMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story gets murkier. \u00a0According to South Africa’s Sport24 website<\/a><\/strong>, Caster Semenya ‘married’ a woman last December in what was described as a ‘traditional’ wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n

Semenya and her\/his long-time girlfriend, Violet Raseboya, held the ceremony in Ga-Dikgale in the Capricorn District of Limpopo.<\/p>\n

The website says: ‘According to reports, Semenya and Raseboya got engaged in May last year. \u00a0Semenya was quick to dispel those reports, saying, \u201cThere is no wedding. Don\u2019t believe the rumours you read in the news,\u201d according to the Sowetan website.<\/p>\n

‘However, according to the Daily Sun website, Semenya, 24, sent her parents to Raseboya’s family in Polokwane to negotiate lobola (dowry).<\/p>\n

‘An insider revealed at the time that both families were happy to negotiate lobola, with Semenya’s family paying R25,000 (around \u00a31,400).’ \u00a0Dowry in Africa is paid by the man’s family to the woman’s.<\/p>\n

That fits, because sadly, Caster Semenya, you are not a woman.<\/p>\n

YOU CAN RUN ON FOR A LONG TIME<\/strong><\/p>\n

One day, Caster Semenya’s times will be deleted and medals re-allocated. \u00a0That will be sad at a personal level, but the athlete is knowingly employing an unfair advantage over genuine women. \u00a0That is contrary to justice.<\/p>\n

As the song goes:<\/p>\n

‘You can run on for a long time,
\n‘Run on for a long time,
\n‘Run on for a long time,
\n‘Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.’ \u00a0(Johnny Cash<\/a>\u00a0– view on youtube<\/a><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)<\/strong>
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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P.P.S. Caster Semenya won the women’s 800m in Zurich in 1:56:45, as expected, on 1st September 2016, to win the Diamond League. P.S. Caster Semenya won the Olympic women’s 800m, as expected, in 1:55:28 on 21st August 2016. Tom Fordyce, writing on the BBC’s website, said Semenya’s Olympic win would ignite previous controversy about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2074,2071,2070,15,2075,2077,2078,2073,2076,2072,1886,43,2079,2080],"class_list":["post-9224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homosexuality-trans","tag-800m","tag-androginism","tag-caster-semenya","tag-christian-voice","tag-court-for-arbitration-in-sport","tag-dutee-chand","tag-eric-vilain","tag-hyperandroginism","tag-iaaf","tag-intersex","tag-rio-olympics","tag-stephen-green","tag-ucla","tag-violet-raseboya"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Stephen","author_link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/author\/stephen\/"},"rttpg_comment":20,"rttpg_category":"Homosexuality & Trans<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"P.P.S. Caster Semenya won the women’s 800m in Zurich in 1:56:45, as expected, on 1st September 2016, to win the Diamond League. P.S. Caster Semenya won the Olympic women’s 800m, as expected, in 1:55:28 on 21st August 2016. Tom Fordyce, writing on the BBC’s website, said Semenya’s Olympic win would ignite previous controversy about the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}