What No One Is Telling You About Caster Semenya: She Has XY Chromosomes

[mountaineer]

Even though Caster is not a transgender person, she's become a cause celebre for the same people who would support gay and tranny rights:

What No One Is Telling You About Caster Semenya: She Has XY Chromosomes
Plus The Usain Bolt/Michael Phelps Comparisons Don’t Work and More
By Robert Johnson
May 2, 2019

Let me start by saying, none of what I write below should be viewed as a personal attack on Caster Semenya. I have the utmost respect for her.  ...

 The mainstream reporting on Semenya is very misleading, to say the least so let me share a few key facts that you likely haven’t read anywhere else.

1) Caster Semenya Has XY Chromosomes
It’s absolutely mind-boggling that virtually every major outlet in the world reporting the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling yesterday has failed to mention one of the most important facts of the entire case. Caster Semenya has XY chromosomes.  ...



... If I had been writing for the NY Times, I’d have added just six words and there would have been no confusion as to what really happened:

Intersex track athletes with XY chromosomes and naturally elevated levels of testosterone must decrease the hormone to participate in certain races versus women at major competitions like the Olympics, the highest court in international sports said Wednesday in a landmark ruling amid the pitched debate over who can compete in women’s events.

This is an incredibly complex issue, and one of the reasons for that complexity is that the IAAF has two categories in which athletes can compete: male and female. The problem is, human biology doesn’t always neatly divide into male or female. Some people — intersex people — have traits of both sexes. Semenya isn’t male, but in addition to Y chromosomes, she is believed to have internal testes and lack a womb or ovaries — characteristics we don’t traditionally associate with females. However, you’d likely never know that from reading the coverage in the mainstream press on Wednesday. ...

2) The “Michael Phelps” or “Usain Bolt” Genetic Outliers Argument Isn’t A Good One
Many people who support Semenya use the argument that elite sports are often about genetic outliers dominating. Usain Bolt had really long legs and Michael Phelps had really long arms, so why can’t Semenya have really high testosterone?

That’s a bad analogy. Sports organizations don’t classify athletes by arm or leg length, but they do classify athletes by sex. ...

Read more at Let's Run

[Sanguine]

I thought she had XXY.

[mountaineer]

I thought she had XXY.

Both are being reported: XY and XXY, although she doesn't seem to fit the usual XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) description. It's been said she has hyperandrogenism - an intersex condition characterised by naturally-occurring high levels of testosterone.

[Sanguine]

Both are being reported: XY and XXY, although she doesn't seem to fit the usual XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) description. It's been said she has hyperandrogenism - an intersex condition characterised by naturally-occurring high levels of testosterone.

Regardless, I feel for her.  She was raised as a girl and probably never had any real indication that she was anything else.

[mountaineer]

Regardless, I feel for her.  She was raised as a girl and probably never had any real indication that she was anything else.

I do, too. She didn't bring this on herself. She's not cheating.

[jmyrlefuller]

Both are being reported: XY and XXY, although she doesn't seem to fit the usual XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) description. It's been said she has hyperandrogenism - an intersex condition characterised by naturally-occurring high levels of testosterone.

Well, "she" doesn't seem to fit the usual XY description, either.