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Gender bending the rules for Caster Semenya
EDITORIAL
Gender bending the rules Forcing a champion athlete to prove she is a woman is a humiliating waste of time
condition that gives her an unfair advantage. The decision is hard to fathom. Even if Semenya turns out to have a gender disorder such as androgen insensitivity, it should not prevent her from competing as a woman (see page 10). And if she has a medical condition that gives her an advantage, so what? We don’t stop athletes competing with each other on the basis of inborn biological differences such as height or their proportion of fast and slow muscle fibres, nor as a result of medical history. Lance Armstrong lost a testicle to cancer therapy but that did not stop him from competing in – and repeatedly winning – the
IN 1957 female high jumper Dora Ratjen made an amazing confession: she was a man. Ratjen (real name Hermann), who had competed for Germany in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin and broke the women’s world record two years “Even if Semenya turns out to have later, said that Nazi officials had persuaded him to masquerade as a woman to bring glory a gender disorder, that should not prevent her competing as a woman” to the Reich. International athletics has often had an uneasy relationship with gender. From Tour de France, even though it may have given 1966 to 1996 female athletes were routinely him a competitive advantage by altering his genetically tested to confirm that they were testosterone levels. women, following rumours that Soviet-bloc As more women are encouraged to compete countries were entering male athletes in at international level, it is increasingly likely women’s events. Despite this scrutiny, Ratjen’s that genetic outliers capable of astonishing remains the only documented case. performances will be identified and nurtured. Gender tests were discontinued after the Semenya appears to fall into that category. 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and rightly so. In Indeed, female athletes are closing the gap on modern athletics it would be impossible to their male counterparts – though Semenya’s get away with gender fraud. winning time would not have got her past the But last week the practice was clumsily heats in the men’s race. revived when the International Association Casting doubt on an athlete’s integrity is of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ordered Caster humiliating enough, but asking a woman to Semenya, who won the women’s 800 metres prove her gender in the global media spotlight at the World Championships in Berlin, to is worse. It is little better than asking women undergo a series of gender verification to parade naked in front of a panel of doctors – tests. Strangely, this is not because the IAAF a practice which used to be routine for female suspects Semenya is a man. Instead, it says athletes, but is now thankfully consigned to it is concerned that she has a rare medical the history books. ■
A no-frills revolution for fertility treatment AIR travel was once too expensive for all but the very rich. Now, thanks to low-cost carriers, it is sometimes the cheapest way to get from A to B. Could a similar revolution occur in fertility treatment? Two outfits have stripped IVF down to its bare essentials with the aim of making it affordable for African couples (see page 8). By relying on generic drugs and simple equipment, they plan to offer the procedure for about $350 per course, a fraction of the $12,000 it can cost in the west. The efforts are to be applauded, but they also raise an important question: why should IVF cost so much for anyone, anywhere? Many western couples miss out on having children because they cannot afford IVF. Now that we know it is possible, no-frills IVF should be a priority for clinics everywhere, not just in Africa. ■
Here’s a red-hot tip NEXT time you’re in a pressure situation – a job interview or exam, for example – check your surroundings carefully. Is the interviewer wearing a red tie? Are you using a red pen? If so, you should be on red alert: psychologists have discovered that exposure to red can intimidate you into a bad performance (see page 42). It’s not clear whether being aware of this banishes red’s ill effects, but why not turn it to your advantage? If you’re facing a showdown, wear something red. It might give you the edge. ■
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29 August 2009 | NewScientist | 5
Gender bending the rules Forcing a champion athlete to prove she is a woman is a humiliating waste of time
condition that gives her an unfair advantage. The decision is hard to fathom. Even if Semenya turns out to have a gender disorder such as androgen insensitivity, it should not prevent her from competing as a woman (see page 10). And if she has a medical condition that gives her an advantage, so what? We don’t stop athletes competing with each other on the basis of inborn biological differences such as height or their proportion of fast and slow muscle fibres, nor as a result of medical history. Lance Armstrong lost a testicle to cancer therapy but that did not stop him from competing in – and repeatedly winning – the
IN 1957 female high jumper Dora Ratjen made an amazing confession: she was a man. Ratjen (real name Hermann), who had competed for Germany in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin and broke the women’s world record two years “Even if Semenya turns out to have later, said that Nazi officials had persuaded him to masquerade as a woman to bring glory a gender disorder, that should not prevent her competing as a woman” to the Reich. International athletics has often had an uneasy relationship with gender. From Tour de France, even though it may have given 1966 to 1996 female athletes were routinely him a competitive advantage by altering his genetically tested to confirm that they were testosterone levels. women, following rumours that Soviet-bloc As more women are encouraged to compete countries were entering male athletes in at international level, it is increasingly likely women’s events. Despite this scrutiny, Ratjen’s that genetic outliers capable of astonishing remains the only documented case. performances will be identified and nurtured. Gender tests were discontinued after the Semenya appears to fall into that category. 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and rightly so. In Indeed, female athletes are closing the gap on modern athletics it would be impossible to their male counterparts – though Semenya’s get away with gender fraud. winning time would not have got her past the But last week the practice was clumsily heats in the men’s race. revived when the International Association Casting doubt on an athlete’s integrity is of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ordered Caster humiliating enough, but asking a woman to Semenya, who won the women’s 800 metres prove her gender in the global media spotlight at the World Championships in Berlin, to is worse. It is little better than asking women undergo a series of gender verification to parade naked in front of a panel of doctors – tests. Strangely, this is not because the IAAF a practice which used to be routine for female suspects Semenya is a man. Instead, it says athletes, but is now thankfully consigned to it is concerned that she has a rare medical the history books. ■
A no-frills revolution for fertility treatment AIR travel was once too expensive for all but the very rich. Now, thanks to low-cost carriers, it is sometimes the cheapest way to get from A to B. Could a similar revolution occur in fertility treatment? Two outfits have stripped IVF down to its bare essentials with the aim of making it affordable for African couples (see page 8). By relying on generic drugs and simple equipment, they plan to offer the procedure for about $350 per course, a fraction of the $12,000 it can cost in the west. The efforts are to be applauded, but they also raise an important question: why should IVF cost so much for anyone, anywhere? Many western couples miss out on having children because they cannot afford IVF. Now that we know it is possible, no-frills IVF should be a priority for clinics everywhere, not just in Africa. ■
Here’s a red-hot tip NEXT time you’re in a pressure situation – a job interview or exam, for example – check your surroundings carefully. Is the interviewer wearing a red tie? Are you using a red pen? If so, you should be on red alert: psychologists have discovered that exposure to red can intimidate you into a bad performance (see page 42). It’s not clear whether being aware of this banishes red’s ill effects, but why not turn it to your advantage? If you’re facing a showdown, wear something red. It might give you the edge. ■
What’s hot on NewScientist.com SPACE Saturn moon’s lake: it’s great for rock-skimming The largest lake on Titan is mirror-smooth, varying in height by less than 3 millimetres, new radar observations show. Seasonal changes may explain why it is so flat
TECH Magic ink offers full-colour printing in an instant An ink that produces colour in the same way birds and insects do could be used as the basis of a superfast full-colour printer. See our video of M-ink in action
PHYSICS Disrupt emergency exits to boost evacuation rates When a packed room has a narrow exit door, people will get out faster if an obstacle is placed in front of the door, physicists have shown
SPACE Space station science, past, present and future We look at the highs and lows of science on the International Space Station, the $100 billion outpost dismissed by some as an “orbital turkey”
REPRODUCTION Human sex from the inside out Intercourse as you’ve never seen it before: we present the first video of a couple having sex in an MRI scanner. Made from a series of images captured during an experiment some years ago, it has only just been released BLOG The perfect David Bowie song? A linguistic analysis by a health psychologist of all the 266 songs recorded by David Bowie has produced what he claims
to be the “ideal” Bowie song. Now he has released it on video, so why not judge for yourself? TECH Ultra-pod transport Driverless electric pod-cars will soon be zipping passengers from the car park at London Heathrow to the airport’s newest terminal. The Ultra personal rapid transit (PRT) system is a world first For breaking news, video and online debate, visit www.newscientist.com
29 August 2009 | NewScientist | 5