Episode #22
Caster Semenya:
When Protecting Women Hurts Women
Throughout history, women have consistently faced more scrutiny in the public eye than men do. While we’ve made tremendous progress, we’ve also made detrimentally large steps backward in the name of progress.
Caster Semenya, an Olympic gold medalist, is one of the many women who can attest to the direct discrimination and undue scrutiny females face in sports. As an athlete, Caster has experienced years of double-standards, invasive medical examinations, and unnecessary intervention throughout her career.
Today, Sara and Misasha discuss the issues with the way gender is treated and evaluated in sports and why we should all take action. This episode is packed with educational and insightful takes on how we view gender and athletic norms.
“It’s hard to imagine anything called a ‘sex verification test’ is anything but super humiliating”. - Sara
Show Highlights:
Contrasting Caster Semenya with Michael Phelps
Who is Caster Semenya and why she’s a reoccurring controversial topic
What an Intersex condition is and how it impacts those who have it
Unpacking the issues of dividing gender with arbitrary measurements
How genetics come into play in sports
The direct discrimination Caster Semenya has faced throughout her career
The slippery slope with trying to create a metric to identify gender
Why normalizing male athletics is dismissive and discriminatory to women
How measuring hormones is a step back from recognizing women as athletes
How to take action in changing the standards for women’s athletics
Links:
Email: Hello@dearwhitewomen.com
Washington Post Article on Caster Semenya
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