Gender Questions Surround Track And Field Star
NPR September 14, 2009
The world governing body for track and field is deciding whether a sprinter can compete as a woman, if she also has male sex organs. The International Association of Athletics Federations has taken up the case of Caster Semenya, a world record holding South African runner. Semenya, has undergone tests to prove that she is a female after claims to the contrary. Michel Martin discusses the topic with Doctor Eric Vilain, an expert in the field of intersex science and identity.
MICHEL MARTIN, host:
Now we turn to another complicated story about identity - how you know who you are. South African runner Caster Semenya broke the world record for the women's 800-meter race last month. Almost immediately, competitors and officials questioned whether Semenya was in fact a woman.
The International Association of Athletics Federations ordered tests to confirm Semenya's gender. The decision sparked an uproar in South Africa, where officials and the public rushed to support her. We've reported on that aspect of the story earlier.
Well, there's a new twist in the story. There are reports that the tests found Semenya has internal male testes, no ovaries. So we wanted to ask not just what this means for track competitions, what does this say about what it means to be a woman?
Joining us now to talk about this, is Dr. Eric Vilain. He's professor of human genetics and pediatrics and chief of medical genetics at the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Vilain, thank you so much for joining us.
Dr. ERIC VILAIN (Chief of Medical Genetics, University of CaliforniaLos Angeles): Hello. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Do we have a definition? Is there a medical definition of what makes a man a man and a woman a woman?
Dr. VILAIN: There is no strict or obvious definition of what sex is in humans. It's quite a complex definition. There are many different parameters that are not always concordant. There is chromosomal sex, genetic sex, hormonal sex, gonadal sex, the way your external genitalia look like or the way your internal genitalia look like. And there is even now an anatomic brain-sex definition. So it's really a constellation of parameters that define sex. And in the end, what really counts, in my opinion, is what we feel like we are, either male or female.
MARTIN: And that does speak to the question of how this Athletic Federation will address this matter because there are those who were saying - they're raising the question of fairness.
It's true from a social standpoint, in your profession, in mine, it doesn't matter what our organs look like. It's irrelevant to the way we perform our jobs. But in this particular, narrow arena, there are those who say it is entirely fair to ask. Is it fair for Semenya to be competing with the woman? Do you have an opinion about that?
Dr. VILAIN: Well, interestingly, the gender divide in sport is really the only categorization of athletes that exist, maybe with the exception of weight categories in boxing or weightlifting. It's a rather artificial categorization. One could imagine, along the same argument as being on the same level playing field that taller people should be separated because they are more likely to run faster or jump higher.
So the sports authorities have chosen gender for track and field, for instance, because, yes, it would certainly make a difference on the field, and males would be more likely to win. But if you're going to have this kind of rather artificial boundary, you're going to have to come up with ways to separate people - and the sports authorities really want or aim to have some kind of simple biological test, and it's just not going to happen.
The fact of having testes, for instance, certainly does not make you necessarily a male, even as an advantage to compete against women. And in this case, for instance, where it's likely that the male hormones that are produced by the testes are probably not functioning very well. It is likely that the receptor of these male hormones, which was what the androgens, the male hormones, are binding to and are actually functional, it's probable that this receptor is not functioning very well.
And so, in the end, it's not clear whether there is truly an advantage of having testes. In fact, interestingly, the International Olympic Committee authorized male-to-female transsexuals who had been castrated for more than two years to actually compete with the females if they wanted to. They do have a Y chromosome, the used to have testes, two testicles, and yet they are able to compete. So…
MARTIN: So they are able to compete. So, interesting. And I should mention at this point that the test results that we're discussing have been reported through sourcing. So we don't know whether these are official test results, but they have not been disputed except - they've been disputed by her representatives on an emotional level, if I can say. And it's disturbing to have such private matters discussed publicly.
Dr. VILAIN: It is terrible, and I think it's really likely to have really distressful consequences to this athlete.
MARTIN: Oh, I did want to ask you about that. That was going to be my next question. And, of course, this has become a public matter. But I did want to ask. The concept of discussing one's gender identity in such a public way, could you talk about that as a doctor, as a pediatrician, as a person who works with patients. What do you think the effect of this has?
Dr. VILAIN: I'm not a psychologist. I'm a geneticist, but I do see a lot of patients with disorders of sex development or intersex. And the main issue with all these patients - day in, day out - is not an issue about what their genitals look like, unlike what doctors and their parents sometimes think it could be. It's really an issue of shame and stigma. And the issue then becomes a private matter that has - it has to be decided by themselves when they decide to somehow come out about it and be proud about it. And it certainly should not be discussed publicly because of all the stigma issues that are associated to it in our society.
There is about one percent of newborns in the United States who are born with some kind of a disorder of sex development, from minor malformations of the genitals to more complicated situations such as this one. And so, it's - but no one ever hears about it because it's a shameful matter, and people are trying to hide it.
MARTIN: Very briefly, doctor, do you think that our conversation -, however inappropriate it has been - in terms of the public discussion, might change the thinking in a way or help people to expand their concept of what it means to be male or female?
Dr. VILAIN: I really hope so. I hope it'll make everyone think about what it means to be a man or a woman in this society and make us think of whether our genitals are that important when it comes to deciding who we are and how the world sees us.
MARTIN: Dr. Eric Vilain is professor of human genetics and pediatrics and chief of medical genetics at UCLA. He was kind enough to join us from his office. Thank you so much for speaking with us.
Dr. VILAIN: Thank you.