Academic star accused of gender cheating...

I just read a CNN news article about South African running star Caster Semenya, who had an astounding victory in the women's world 800 meters. Apparently the sport's governing body is now asking for her gender to be verified. I'm assuming there must be something to this other than her masculine build, but the article sparked a "what if..." thought for me.

What if a female academic who was a rising superstar had to be gender tested to make sure she's not a man? You could hear some fogey saying "Hmmm, she's far too good to be a woman."

This gender cheating idea just struck me as (sad but) funny.

I'm guessing the gender testing involves a lot more than simple physical evidence, eg hormonal tests. And they can always just ask our parents...

In the case of Semenya, they turned to her father who said, "She is my little girl. I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."

I have never doubted her gender. It must be so odd as a parent to have to answer this question.