Hermaphrodites and Athletics

Caster Semenya is exploding all over the media with the recent discovery that she is a hermaphrodite.  Semenya has no ovaries or uterus and does have internal testes that produce large amounts of testosterone, which would explain her deep voice and her physical shape.  This is a new debate that is very interesting to me because this has never really been a problem before in athletes nor have we had to technology to diagnose those in question.  Semenya with male traits and testosterone running through her body would be the debate that would give a bigger advantage to other female runners.  I say if we are going to get technical with the amount of testosterone in someones body then we need to look at the genetic makeup of every single participant of that athletic competition.  Yes testosterone is defiantly going to give a female athlete an advantage over others, however, how can we not exclude other female athletes whos genetic makeup is very athletic and similar to that a of a male body, which would give them an advantage to a competitor who isnt.  That is my opinion but who is to say that a female is too male, and a male is too female.  This i believe is going to be a long ongoing debate for those who are a hermaphrodite.  I mean who is to judge someones gender preference and disregard it because it would be an unfair competition.  again, if its going to be looked into that closely then I think that other factors must be taken into affect as well.

Serena's Outburst

Okay,  so Serena had a melt down when a footfall was called and she reacted in a manner that upset most.  I would have to say when I first saw the video clip I laughed and found it humorous.  I think I reacted this way because this was outside of her character and is one of the most respected and notable female athletes of our time.  She already has established a favorable reputation with the public.  I think a lot of people had a similar reaction to her rage like mine, however, there were a lot who viewed her actions as, "un lady like".  Especially in a prestigious country club sport like tennis, that behavior is unacceptable.  Even as a lacrosse coach if one of my girls acted out like that to a referee she would be suspended from that game and the next.  I think if it were a male that reacted the way she did, it would be a little more accepted but not by much. Instead of being unlady like I think he would become a little unfavorable, yet, his actions would just reflect what our society percieves our male athletes to be; dominant, masculine, and aggressive.  Ya he may get the, jerk, vibe from a lot of his female friends, yet, he may be praised by his males fans.  I believe it is a little harder to come out of a situation like Serena's solely because she is a women and we as a society have different expectations and standards that women must uphold.

As far as her punishment, I do not believe that she should be suspended from her next tournament.  Being at the elite professional level that she is at, I think that suspending her is a little ridiculous. It is not as if she went chasing after the line judge with her racket.  I would think that there might be rules forbidding players to speak to a line judge in a negative manner or any official at that.  Her punishment was a fine, yet I would think that her actions would result in points taken away from her game or her complete ranking as an individual player. I am not excusing her from her actions, but I think all of the negative publicity is enough to think before she speaks again. Again, who knows what the consequences and the reaction of the publicity might be if a male player were to react the same way in that particular situation.  I think across the board in tennis it would have been looked down upon, yet I can not decide if the male would have been viewed as more threatening and would have recieved a harsher punishment or if his actions would have been slightly more acecpted due to the fact he has testosterone running through his blood.

About Me

My Name is Jessica Jackel. I am from Worthington Ohio, (columbus), and a senior majoring in Sport Management. After graduation I plan working for an agency or marketing firm down in Charlotte, N.C. Not too sure what I want to do, but I think business development sounds pretty cool to me right now.

I have been involved with sports my whole life. I started out playing volleyball then later my I became involved in cross country and lacrosse. I continued to play lacrosse as a club member at BGSU, and I started coaching at Perrysburg High School. I was their JV coach my freshman year, and then became head varsity my sophomore and junior year. This year, I decided to call it quits due to the time commitment.

I love the industry and I guess that's what made me switch from pre med my freshman year to sport management. I was never a huge ESPN viewer or kept up to date with stats of my favorite teams, however, I found a passion with the business side of things and that is what I am looking forward to after graduation.
If I were to pick a male and female athlete that I could watch play, they would have to be Michael Phelps and Serena Williams. I became a fan of swimming events due to my best friends brother who swam and played water polo competitively. We would travel all over the state to watch his matches and meets due to the fact that the teams he was on always made it to states. So I found excitement and interest in a sport that I have never participated in competitively, and that's why I think it would be cool to watch an athlete such as Phelps to dominate in the water. The same type of story goes for my fondness of Tennis. One of my best friends in high school played tennis, so when I would go over to her house, we were only allowed to watch tennis if we had the TV on. Instead of being bored from not understanding the game, Abby taught me how it was played and all of the rules. Soon after I was rooting for her favorite players and found a new love for the sport. Being able to watch Serena would be incredible. After watching her play against Venus at Wimbledon, I can only imagine what it would be like to watch them live.

I am excited for this class, I am eager to discuss the roles that gender plays in sport. I believe that there are so many stereotypes in what is accepted and expected of male and females athletes within their respected sports. I believe it has a huge role in the evolution of sport and why they are, the way they are today. The discussion that was brought up of transgender athletes really sparked my interest because most sports divide male and female athletics based on biological makeup. so now that people are changing their makeup based on gender preferences, I believe will make it difficult for them to be accepted anywhere. Particularly, I am eager to see the further discussions that will come up about this topic.