Perspective: We celebrated Michael Phelps’s genetic differences. Why punish Caster Semenya for hers?
Caster Semenya, shown here at the 2017 World Championships in London, has been ordered to take medication lowering her testosterone levels if she wants to continue competing in women’s athletics. By Monica Hesse Monica Hesse Style reporter Email Bio Follow Columnist May 2 at 10:23 AM For about a decade — a time that Olympic historians may someday classify as “the Michael Phelps era” — I’ve been reading about the unique genetic blessings bestowed upon the greatest swimmer to ever live.
Because I can’t have been the only person who immediately turned to Google — “nmol” is the abbreviation for “nanomole,” which is one billionth of a mole, which is a unit of measurement. So, if you were forced to submit to a testosterone test, would you bet your livelihood and your identity on the hope that your measurements would turn up on the correct side of the line? If they didn’t, would you alter your identity based on this new data — or might you argue that your personhood was more than a number? Most women have never been forced to submit to such a test; most of us are quite sure we know who we are without one.
The CAS has couched its decision as the best of bad options, made in the name of protecting women. But it doesn’t seem to be about protecting women. It seems to be about protecting a specific idea of what it means to be a woman. About protecting some women, just not the ones who look like Caster Semenya.
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