I Was Born Like This. I Don't Want Any Changes

Caster Semenya grew up in a dark, dank province, but she went on to win Olympic gold anyway. Never mind the fact that she overcame the thick smog of poverty in her lungs. Never mind that. She had an unfair advantage, hear? Caster could run so she ran all the way to the Olympics. She won two medals before she'd even shaken the Limpopo dust from her shoes.

From the start, Caster's genitals were discussed on the front pages of major newspapers. Her body was treated like public property. The IAAF dragged her through test after gender-defining test because that's what they do to all athletes, right? Well, no.

Still, she wasn't like other girls. She didn't conform to their ideas of femininity, so the world began to have public conversations about whether she was a man. I cannot begin to imagine the humiliation of it, but Caster doesn’t need to imagine it. 

The IAAF found her testosterone levels were higher than most so they ruled that Caster and women like her must use medication to reduce their testosterone levels artificially if they're to compete--not in all races mind you. No. Only the precise middle distance running Caster does, but this isn't personal.

Right?

 It's not as though we don't check all athletes, male and female, to make sure their blood complies with our beliefs. It’s not as though we don’t make all athletes with a physical advantage change their bodies. Hell, no, we don’t ask male athletes with high levels of female hormones to medicate themselves in order to compete. Nope. We don’t do any of those things.

The IAAF admits to their discrimination, but they still didn’t reverse their decision on appeal.

All Caster has to do to resume her career is become something she is not. This will probably not make her a lesser athlete, but it will make the public feel better about the gender norms in their heads. She is to stop running, stop achieving, stop winning for no reason other than that she has failed to comply with expectations about femininity.