I've been interested in learning more about gender identity, gender chromosone disorders and other sorts of non-standard gendering, ever since a college friend was going M->F. Caster Semenya, a female track star from South Africa, has had her female status under fire since winning several high-profile international races. She's completely blown away her competition and looks a lot more manly than her fellow (already very ripped and lean) runners.
Poor girl is 18 years old and has always lived as a girl. Now she has just found out that she doesn't have ovaries or a uterus. Instead, she is a hermaphrodite and has internal testes, which are producing testosterone. Her testosterone levels are 3x that of a "normal" female. (But I haven't easily gathered how much more testosterone an average male has compared to an average female, which would be interesting.) Testosterone enough, I don't think, is adequate grounds for disallowing a female to compete in women's athletic events, but the physical evidence of hermaphrodism, does put Caster Semenya's athletic future in a tricky spot.
Article from the Australian Daily Telegraph here.
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