Caster Semenya, winner of the gold medal in the 800m run at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, is a real-life Wonder Woman; except for the fact that many competitors, spectators, and experts accused her of being a man at the 2009 International Association of Athletics Federation World Championships. Her “strikingly muscular physique”(McLean), deep voice, and “the way she runs” (McLean) were the causes for concern and they all tie into how society compartmentalizes people by their sex, gender, and sex category. While people often use these three terms interchangeably, they each carry vastly different ideas to create a holistic view of how a person defines themselves and how others see them. Sex is the “socially agreed upon biological criteria
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Questions about her gender preceded her athletic career. Her former grade school headmaster believed that she was a man for years because “she was always rough and played with the boys” (Bryson). Additionally, she wore pants while the other girls wore skirts. These indicators are the gender binary - the idea that there are only two sexes and genders - working to put individuals into boxes. The soccer pitch was where the boys played and pants were what the boys wore, so the headmaster came to the conclusion that she must be a boy or was trying to be a boy. This perception followed her to the I.A.A.F. World Championships in 2009 in Berlin. A Russian competitor, Mariya Savinova, said “For me, she’s not a woman. She’s a man” (Clarey/Kolata) - this statement is especially interesting because Savinova still uses the pronoun “she” whilst declaring Semenya to be a man. In response to her out-of-this-world running times, people assumed that she may be using performance-enhancing drugs, but after debunking the theory a spokesman for the I.A.A.F., Nick Davies, explained that “the fact that she’s a young woman, a girl, running [800m in 1:56.72 minutes], [her gender] comes into play” (Clarey/Kolata). According to Semenya and her family members, though, she is undoubtedly a female (sex) who identifies as a woman (gender) and that has always been the …show more content…
Erving Goffman defines the hegemonic male as “young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual…” (Chen) among other qualities. Although those are the desired traits of a man in 1963, the qualifications for the hegemonic female are not much different. Because of her race, sexuality, body type, and sport, Semenya does not fulfill female hegemony - she is a subaltern female. According to Anthony S. Chen in his research about Chinese American men and hegemony, marginalized genders must employ a gender strategy in order to achieve hegemony. These strategies include compensation, deflection, and denial. In South Africa’s You magazine, Semenya uses compensation as a coping mechanism to deal with the criticism of her gender. On the cover of the magazine, she embraces über femininity by letting her hair down, wearing makeup and jewelry, and donning a flowy dress next to the statement: “we turned SA’s power girl into a glamour girl - and she loves it!” The feature quotes her saying “I’d like to dress up more often and wear dresses but I never get the chance… I’d also like to learn to do my own makeup” (North). While people’s style preferences can change, the accounts of Semenya’s appearance and behavior throughout her childhood and on the running track dispute this statement. Through this magazine article, Semenya and her management team are attempting “to sell the public on her
Questions about her gender preceded her athletic career. Her former grade school headmaster believed that she was a man for years because “she was always rough and played with the boys” (Bryson). Additionally, she wore pants while the other girls wore skirts. These indicators are the gender binary - the idea that there are only two sexes and genders - working to put individuals into boxes. The soccer pitch was where the boys played and pants were what the boys wore, so the headmaster came to the conclusion that she must be a boy or was trying to be a boy. This perception followed her to the I.A.A.F. World Championships in 2009 in Berlin. A Russian competitor, Mariya Savinova, said “For me, she’s not a woman. She’s a man” (Clarey/Kolata) - this statement is especially interesting because Savinova still uses the pronoun “she” whilst declaring Semenya to be a man. In response to her out-of-this-world running times, people assumed that she may be using performance-enhancing drugs, but after debunking the theory a spokesman for the I.A.A.F., Nick Davies, explained that “the fact that she’s a young woman, a girl, running [800m in 1:56.72 minutes], [her gender] comes into play” (Clarey/Kolata). According to Semenya and her family members, though, she is undoubtedly a female (sex) who identifies as a woman (gender) and that has always been the …show more content…
Erving Goffman defines the hegemonic male as “young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual…” (Chen) among other qualities. Although those are the desired traits of a man in 1963, the qualifications for the hegemonic female are not much different. Because of her race, sexuality, body type, and sport, Semenya does not fulfill female hegemony - she is a subaltern female. According to Anthony S. Chen in his research about Chinese American men and hegemony, marginalized genders must employ a gender strategy in order to achieve hegemony. These strategies include compensation, deflection, and denial. In South Africa’s You magazine, Semenya uses compensation as a coping mechanism to deal with the criticism of her gender. On the cover of the magazine, she embraces über femininity by letting her hair down, wearing makeup and jewelry, and donning a flowy dress next to the statement: “we turned SA’s power girl into a glamour girl - and she loves it!” The feature quotes her saying “I’d like to dress up more often and wear dresses but I never get the chance… I’d also like to learn to do my own makeup” (North). While people’s style preferences can change, the accounts of Semenya’s appearance and behavior throughout her childhood and on the running track dispute this statement. Through this magazine article, Semenya and her management team are attempting “to sell the public on her