Is the South African runner a man or a woman?

by Hanna Rosin

Anyone following the story of Caster Semanya, the gold medalist runner who is being subjected to "gender verification" tests after complaints that she might be a man? The first tests came back this morning. It turns out that Semanya does indeed have high levels of testosterone. The team's head coach is Ekkar Arbeit, the former East German coach known for spoon feeding his female runners steroids. But none of this means she is a man. The Arbeit scandal happened a long time ago, when doping was overlooked. And many, many women have elevated levels of testosterone and are not men. In the meantime, the South African officials are complaining to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and asking "Who are white people to question the make-up of an African girl?"

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