Tuesday, December 19, 2006

 
anyone catch this news bit?

from Yahoo News:

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters at the Asian Games failed a gender test and was stripped of the medal.

Santhi Soundarajan, 25, took the gender test in Doha, Qatar, after placing second.

The Indian Olympic Association said Monday it has been told by the Olympic Council of Asia that the 25-year-old runner was disqualified.

"IOA has asked the Athletic Federation of India to return the medal as desired by the Olympic Council of Asia," the Indian Olympic group said.

The IOA also asked its medical commission to inquire into Soundarajan's case and report within 10 days.

There are no compulsory gender tests during events sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations, but athletes may be asked to take a gender test. The medical evaluation panel usually includes a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist and internal medicine specialist.

An Indian athletics official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said Soundarajan almost certainly never had sex-change surgery.

Instead, the official said Soundarajan appeared to have "abnormal chromosomes." The official also said the test revealed more Y chromosomes than allowed.

Soundarajan was not immediately available for comment
.


any thoughts?

Comments:
I mean, where would this athlete fit vis-a-vis "trans politics"?

would she be allowed at Michfest?

what does this mean for her medal?
 
shouldn't you be doing some work??!!
 
kid - you are NOT the boss of me.
 
but never the less... even if it is near the holiday, what are you doing. and wat did you get for mom?
 
email me so we don't hijack the thread, darlin'.
 
I want to know what you got for Mom, too.
 
you'll all have to wait 'til Dec. 25.
 
i have been thinking about this since i heard about it yesterday, and it actually raises a sticky question - where are transexuals supposed to compete in the sports world? i certainly don't have an answer, but really - i don't have a problem with sports being divided into men's/women's, but it does raise an interesting Q for the genderless/genderbending...

also, sort of unrelated, but just read the most outrageous op-ed in the Daily News - not really about tranny politics but definitely about feminist politics. get ready to throw up in your mouth a little bit, it is seriously offensive.

http://phonelesscord.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/thoughts-on-the-peoples-prostitutes/

or

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/columnists/columnists.html?in_article_id=423549&in_page_id=1772&in_author_id=322
 
Instead, the official said Soundarajan appeared to have "abnormal chromosomes." The official also said the test revealed more Y chromosomes than allowed.

so...not to be flip, but how many Y chromosomes are allowed?

is this a sports issue? a gender issue? some combination?
 
phonelesscord - yeah, that's pretty awful.

egregious bad taste, if nothing else. but plenty else.
 
so it's okay to embody a gender ambiguity if you're born that way (Soundarajan) but not if you come to that state through human intervention?
 
I'm having one of those surprised-by-the-deafening-silence moments.
 
Thoughts?

I think my honey's a sweetiepie for passing this news on to me before any bloggers got it to me...even though he thought I'd have never heard of such a thing, about which he was completely wrong. ;-)

I've read my Anne Fausto-Sterling!
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?