On the Eurocentric nature of sex testing: the case of Caster Semenya

ABSTRACT

Black masculinity and femininity have been read outside the normative gender sphere since plantation slavery. The construction of Black femininity, is apparent in the treatment of Caster Semenya, whose treatment is reminiscent to that of ‘the so-called’ Hottentot Venus, Sarah Bartmann. This comparison has been made due to the voyeurism they have been subjected to and the spectacle that has been made of their bodies. Semenya’s treatment is reflective of the legacy of plantation slavery which created material conditions that were used to dominate and dehumanize African men and women. In this paper, we will examine how Caster Semenya’s femininity has been constructed through a racist, Western lens and the different ways in which race has been used to construct Black femininity, and the divergent discourses of Black women’s sexuality and femininity. Furthermore, we will show how the process of gender verification testing is a means of forcing Semenya to assimilate to a white, Western standard of beauty and ensure the continued exclusion of racialized, particularly, Black (female) athletes in sport.

KEYWORDS:

• Caster Semenya
• sex-testing
• race
• sports
• media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This sense of entitlement over and dominance of the female body is a concept and one of the main focuses in Connell’s work (1987; Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Hegemonic masculinity is an ideological discourse that legitimizes men’s dominance over women and other masculinities (Connell, 1987). In order to uphold hegemonic masculinity within society, male dominance and the exclusion or marginalization of women (and ‘effeminate men’) must be maintained, an idea that is symbolically represented through professional athletes (Connell, 1987).

2 While the distinction between sex and gender is important and a debate that has been studied by a number of post-colonial and African feminists, it does not constitute the central focus of this paper; here it acts a cite to pivot into a larger discussion on the constructions of Black femininity through an imperialist lens. For more on these debates, please see Abdel-Shehid (2017), Agathangelou (2004), Butler (1990), Connell (1987, 2005), Foucault (1990), and Oyěwùmí (1997). With respect to verification testing, sports governing bodies have recently placed an emphasis on ‘sex testing’, but their use of the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are often unclear/conflated and will appear as such throughout this paper to reflect their language.

3 Sarah Bartmann, the so-called ‘Hottentot Venus’, was a Khoikhoi (South African) woman who was exhibited as an attraction in a human freak show due to her large buttocks during the 19th century in Europe. Bartmann was deemed a highly developed animal and was studied in order to determine her relationship to other animals and human beings. Bartmann’s display took place on a stage raised from the floor, with a cage, and she was ordered to come out and move around, and to go back into her cage; she would be threatened anytime she refused to be obedient (Lindfors, 1983). French spectators did not view Bartmann as a human, but rather a ‘collage of buttocks and genitalia’ (Sharpley-Whiting, 1999, p. 17). After her death, Bartmann’s body was put on display at the Musee de l’Homme (Sharpley-Whiting, 1999).

4 I am using this spelling of Bartmann’s name to stress the violent nature of her treatment and control over her identity (her original name was Saartiji Baartman and was changed upon her being sold) (Sharpley-Whiting, 1999).

5 Similarly, Serena Williams is often described as ‘manly’ or is compared to an ape due to her muscular physique (although if Williams were a white woman it is likely she would not be described in such a way, and as a result the racism associated with describing Black people in this way is important in understanding why this is so problematic (Kendall, 2015).

6 In 2019, Fox News incorrectly identified her as being a transgender athlete (Burns, 2019).

7 After Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska, who was determined to have one chromosome too many in 1967 was disqualified by the IAAF from future contests, her name struck from record books and her medals revoked, the IOC and IAAF pledged to keep all future examinations confidential due to the humiliation she endured (Schultz, 2012).

8 Santhi Soundarajan is an Indian runner who was stripped of a silver medal she won at the 2006 Asian games after failing a gender verification test conducted by four doctors, none who spoke her native language. The results of the test were publicly announced (Bhowmick & Thottam, 2009).

9 Moreover, Abdel-Shehid and Kalman-Lamb (2011) demonstrate how athletics became synonymous with masculinity. After industrialization, and with the emergence of sports among upper class men, upper class women also wanted to participate in athletics. However, there was a fear that sports would take white women away from their roles as wives and mothers, and doing sports would make white women ‘too manly’, so moderate activity was introduced as a way to mediate this perceived problem (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011). This association of womanhood and fragility was not extended to Black women, as Black women’s strength had been proven in slavery (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011).

10 Pseudoscientific discoveries between race and human development extend well beyond the study of African genitalia. It also included studies of the texture of one’s hair (the ‘pencil test’) and the shape and size of one’s skull (Dworkin et al., 2013)

11 This practice, is supported by the work of both Susan Cahn (1995) and Gail Bederman (1996). Cahn notes that eugenics played a major role in the formation of women’s sport in the early twentieth century; Bederman noted that during the same time frame, an idea of ‘civilization’ emerged which noted that strict gender separation was a feature of a racially superior society. For more on this, see Abdel-Shehid and Kalman-Lamb (2011) and Abdel-Shehid (2018).

12 This idea is similarly discussed by Abdel-Shehid and Kalman-Lamb who maintain that for women to achieve acceptance in the sports world, they must ‘allow themselves to be presented not only as athletes but equally as objects of the male gaze’ (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011, p. 102). Female athletes are portrayed as glamourized athletes, and this is conceived as a natural role for women; in this regard they are a woman first and an athlete second, wherein ‘masculinity’ is central to sports (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011).

13 This idea is similarly discussed by Abdel-Shehid and Kalman-Lamb who maintain that for women to achieve acceptance in the sports world, they must ‘allow themselves to be presented not only as athletes but equally as objects of the male gaze’ (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011, p. 102). Female athletes are portrayed as glamourized athletes, and this is conceived as a natural role for women; in this regard they are a woman first and an athlete second, wherein ‘masculinity’ is central to sports (Abdel-Shehid & Kalman-Lamb, 2011).