The International Association of Athletics Federations, I.A.A.F., challenged a female athlete's official sex and right to compete against other women, according to an essay in The New York Times by Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. South African world champion runner Caster Semenya's sex was questioned in part because some say she is too man-like, athletically.
Dreger's essay detailed some of the biology commonly used to define male and female, and other biological factors that blur the definition. She wrote that the I.A.A.F. will determine Semenya's sex using a scientific team of various doctors and specialists, including an endocrinologist, gynecologist and psychologist. Dreger also questioned the guidelines for sex verification.
Is this issue a public affair?
Yes.
Not because Semenya's sex is something that should or should not be questioned. Not because she should or should not be allowed to compete against women. Not because the guidelines that differentiate between male and female are or are not accurate/biologically sound/ethical/etc.
The Semenya issue is a public affair because it asks those questions. It not only questions rules and guidelines that determine which competing class an athlete falls in within a sporting association, but it questions the very definition of sex. It questions biology. The results of this issue may impact similar arguments in other sports and arenas. These questions challenge the association between sex and gender, and what the many facets of those identities mean to people. These questions are a matter of general concern and interest because they reach beyond the sporting arena to the general public.
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