And Still I Rise

Long before she was thrust into the spotlight in Berlin her looks would have created a stir of the unfavourable type. In fact, the President of the SAA has admitted that she not only underwent a gender test prior to Berlin but the team's doctor had recommended her omission from the team.

It could hardly have come as a shock to the SAA that the IAAFF ordered same after Semenya's heroics in Berlin coupled with her physical appearance. Yet, they reacted as if they never had a thought there was anything about her to warrant concern. This is not to absolve the IAAF for it's shoddy handling of the whole affair but I can't help but feel Semenya was poorly handled by all concerned.

Unfortunately women, driven by the media's definition of beauty and the images we are fed are judged by their appearance despite their achievements. How many times have you heard Condoleeza Rice described as ugly? In my opinion her looks should be secondary to her amazing achievements but such is life. I won't even get started on the hoopla over Princess Di's death while Mother Theresa's was just a footnote.

I feel for Semenya whose world has been thrust upside down and made to pose for a magazine looking like a caricature of womanhood. At 18 and having lived all her life as a female she now has to deal with the knowledge(if the reports are true) that she is intersex. It's a situation I can't even begin to fathom and she didn't know it before she now knows that being different can be almost unbearable.