what do you guys think about the Indian woman that fails gender test..Shanti Souderajan..?

Question

NEW DELHI, India -- 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.

Shanti Sounderajan, 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 Sounderajan's case and report within 10 days.

There are no compulsory gender tests during events sanctioned by track and field's international ruling body, 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 Sounderajan almost certainly never had sex-change surgery.

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

Sounderajan was not immediately available for comment.

Answer 1

Since gender is very important to organized sports, this very interesting problem has been making the rounds in sports for many years. How to classify people who do not fit the biological and social ideals of men and women? Who should they be allowed to compete against?

Generally men and women have different physical capabilities. The most obvious is upper body strength, but women probably have more strength per pound than men. Gays and lesbians, despite not meshing completely well with gender concepts in sporting, present no problem to the notion of separate compeitions for men and women based on differential physical capabilities. Transvestites offer no real problem either, because they still have bodies that match biological stereotypes of man and woman. Transsexuals and hermaphrodites, however, are entirely problematic. They are men and women who don't have bodies that match the biological stereotypes for their social genders.

Sounderajan, was not a transsexual and probably not a hermaphrodite. She is a lot like Jamie Lee Curtis, who has a woman's body, but due to a specific chromosonal arrangement, also has hormonal and physical features that might be described as androgynous, and thus not meeting the biological stereotype of a woman. Though we all accept Jamie Lee Curtis as a woman, she'd probably have a hard time competing in organized sports.

Indians are just as hung up on gender and sex stereotypes as Americans. They should totally let her keep her medal; I'm betting that aside from her chromosomes, her body is entirely within the parameters of the biological stereotype for a woman.

Answer 2

I feel very sad for her. Imagine what that must be like to be declared not a women and be stripped of a medal you'd won. I saw on the news that she is from a poor family. Poor thing probably didn't know. And you if you are 'between' genders or whatever your condition is -- then can you not compete in anything? I feel awful for her and her family.

Answer 3

i read this in the newspaper and i didn't quite understand it. but the more i looked at her pic, the more she appeared to have male facial characteristics. maybe she is both male and female.