[This is an expanded version of a comment prompted by this insightful post from Prof. Sussuro.]
Caster Semenya won the women’s 800-meter race by 2.45 seconds over her nearest rival. I want to start with that fact, because that win is amazing. She is amazing. And this being lost in all these rumors and speculations about Semenya’s sex, gender tests, and possible disqualification.
By now, a number of Pinoys have noted similarities between Semenya and Nancy Navalta, a Pinay teenager whose gender came under scrutiny when she started setting track records in the Philippines in the early 1990s. For both Semenya and Navalta, it was their appearance—their well-muscled physiques and flat, powerful chests—that was used to question their femaleness. Both women departed radically from the standards of beauty and softness often associated with womanhood.
Professor Sussuro discusses the racialized standards of femaleness and what gets considered as gender transgressions among black female bodies in the diaspora. Her analysis brings to mind the violence with which colonizers imposed Eurocentric male-female binaries. In many non-Western societies, there is at least recognition of different sex categories. The hijras in India and Pakistan, for example, and the kathoey in Thailand.
And in the Philippines as well. In the pre-colonial Philippines, the bayougin were people with male genitalia who identified and were accepted as female. Some bayougin even led religious ceremonies, a task usually reserved for the female babaylan and catalonan. PinayTG has a great discussion of pre-colonial gender variance in the Philippines. There is evidence that pre-colonial societies in the Philippines and neighboring countries had much broader categories of sex and gender.
The recognition does not translate to tolerance or equality today, however, as people who live outside strict male-female gender boundaries are very much marginalized. In the Philippines, centuries of Spanish colonialism followed by a few decades of US rule have firmly enshrined a male-female binary. While bakla/gay people are tolerated in very narrow spheres, there remains in place a very Eurocentric model of male/masculine and female/feminine to which people largely adhere.
In the 1990s, Nancy Navalta was forced to undergo gender determination tests, which said that she was “genetically male.” The Philippine Sports Commission instructed Navalta to compete as a male or to undergo “corrective measures.” The ruling effectively ended Navalta’s competitive career.
The Commission’s decision was not a surprise. It was impossible for Pinoy society to see Nancy beyond the strict male-female Eurocentric binary. Not after centuries of colonialism had all but erased people like the bayoguin from the collective Filipino memory.
Sokari has an interesting post that I think connects well with what you are saying here:
http://www.blacklooks.org/2009/08/semenyas_case_-_an_ugly_show_of_gender_prejudice_.html
[...] Erasure [...]
Well, if you’re going to participate in a sex-segregated sporting event, this shouldn’t be even slightly surprising.
@AR – This reads like you’re criticizing Semenya for her decision to participate. She doesn’t have control over the unfairness of the Eurocentric standards that are upheld and reproduced by these sporting events.
This comes late, Prof Susurro, thanks for the link to Sokari. Lots of thought-provoking ideas that I need to reflect upon
Like you, I am also angry, we are angry! This is a violation not only of Cenya’s right but other WLGBTQICs rights as well. Am sure there are more Nancy and Cenya, hidden and more afraid to come out now because they know that they will be subjected to humiliation by our hetero society.
My anger is encouraging me more to understand and love what we are fighting for. Let our voices be heard! Thanx for blogging
it looks like shes a hermaphrodite.
Welcome to the blog, baylan 73. Yes, I definitely agree about the many more Casters and Nancys who remain marginalized and silenced. Salamat for reading and commenting.
@GabbyD — Please do not use the term “hermaphrodite” in referring to Semenya’s case. Aside from being unconfirmed, that term is also misleading and stigmatizes people who are intersex. I do appreciate that you used “she” in referring to Semenya.
oh, its unconfirmed? i read it in the newspaper a few days ago, and googled. she also backed out and didn’t fight the finding, right?
ah, there’s a term for it called intersex — thanks.
but i wonder; if its true shes intersex, can she compete as a woman? would that be fair?
Hi GabbyD,
I meant that the IAAF has not released its findings yet. News about the supposed results of their tests were leaked by members of the Australian press, who were the ones who used the stigmatizing word “hermaphrodite.”
As to your question about fairness, I will assume that we grew up similar environments (urban Philippines) and therefore took for granted our acceptance of strict and distinct male/female binary categories. What I’m trying to get at in this post is that those categories are not natural, they reflect EuroAmerican standards, and in the case of many countries like the Philippines, were imposed through violent colonization.
PinayTG (link in the post) for example, discusses the gender spectrum in pre-colonial Philippines. Many colonizers used the acceptance of gender variance and gender fluidity as another rationale for colonialism. As in, “Omg, we need to civilize these brown and black savages so they’ll learn the civilized way of being masculine and feminine. For their own good.”
So, to get back to your question about fairness. It’s based on the assumption that intersex athletes who identify as female are not women. And I said I understand why you ask this, because of the strict binary categories that we use to think about gender. But sex and gender are spectrum, and the categories that we have now are inadequate. And in the case of Semenya, who is now under suicide watch, these strict categories are also cruel and unjust. Prof. Sussuro (link in the blog post) and gift of gap discuss the racialized constructions of gender here too.
Another issue about the fairness question. It’s also based on the idea that aspects of maleness (testosterone, more muscle, etc) give would give some female athletes an advantage. But then, you could say that Michael Phelps’ low lactic acid production and large feet give him an advantage over other swimmers. Lance Armstrong’s large heart and high VO2 max levels are a distinct advantage as well. Would you question the “fairness” of these advantages, or just when it comes to gender?
Btw, I’ve seen your comments in another Pinoy blog and wanted to let you know I appreciate your support for Pinay women’s rights amid the misogynist comments. Salamat for that.