The Curious Case of the African Runner

A strange case of gender confusion is brewing in South Africa surrounding the recent accomplishments of 18-year-old runner Caster Semenya. Earlier this month, the teenage girl easily won the 800-meter gold medal in the world track and field championships at Berlin. Semenya won by 2.45 seconds, completing the run in a world-best 1 minute 55.45 seconds. In winning, Semenya defeated defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei, who finished second, and another star, Jennifer Meadows of Britain. While her victory was somewhat stunning, it was not necessarily headline news.

Her victory became a global news story when word leaked that the sport's governing body, the IAAF, is conducting gender tests on Semenya to prove whether or not she meets the requirements to compete as a woman. Concerns apparently arose after Semenya exploded onto the world track scene by turning in such unheard-of finish times, times that represented a dramatic improvement over her previous performances. Her muscular build and deep voice also fueled speculation about her gender and led to the investigation. Besides the obvious physical examinations, how do "gender experts," as they are being called, determine the biological, and thus God given, gender of an athlete? Evaluation will include reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist, and a "gender expert."

South Africans have exploded in fury over the tests and thousands in her homeland have rallied to Semenya's side. Several thousand greeted her at the airport, singing and dancing upon her return from Berlin. Most of them seem convinced as to her gender as well. One sign at the airport called her "our first lady of sport." It will take several weeks for the results of the investigation and testing to be finalized.

This case is both curious and unprecedented. Only in the gender-confused postmodern world would we need such rules as those adopted by the 2004 International Olympic Committee that govern the conditions under which a "transgendered" person may compete against one of the two genders without giving them an unfair advantage. There has been no speculation as to whether Semenya has undergone so-called "sex reassignment" surgery, but this case proves two things we argue here regularly. First, God has made every person either male or female, an identity that may not be denied by social engineering. And second, God has made men and women different from each another.

The case upholds the first truth because the IAAF has only two options with Semenya. Either she was born a female, remains a female and should retain her medals with apologies from the ruling body, or she is a man posing as a woman (whether through surgery or disguise) who remains a man in either case and should be stripped of the medals and disqualified permanently from the sport. With either option, Semenya was born either a man or a woman and remains so, even if a pernicious form of "reassignment" surgery is involved. 

This case also proves another biblical truth: God made men and women different. The very existence of the IAAF investigation is nothing less than a vindication of the light of nature, which is, as C.H. Spurgeon famously put it, God's "second book" of revelation. And of course, God's general revelation serves to validate many of the great truths of His special revelation. The recognition of those differences is evident in this case. God created men to be physically stronger and thus, it would be unfair (and unwise) to have them compete against women in sports. Because of their physical strength, men would have an unfair advantage. Social engineers want to flatten gender distinctions and often seek to do so by arguing in favor of some sort of physical uniformity of humankind. But as this case proves, God's truth abideth still, and in His common grace, is validated by the light of nature. The outcome of this case will be interesting, even newsworthy for many, but it will not change that which is unchangeable - God created them male and female.