I can hardly give you a better analysis than that on the Bully Bloggers (The Unforgiveable Transgression of being Caster Semenya) about the continuing saga of Caster Semenya.
But I do want to talk a bit about her makeover for You Magazine. Get real, this is a sister (queer or not, intersex or not, non-gender-conforming or not) so strong both psychically and emotionally that she has had to be feminized. And this is not to say that femininity or feminine women (or men for that matter) are any way weak. It’s just that our society considers femininity (vs. masculinity) to be inferior. As if there are no other ways of being than masculine OR feminine or as if there are no other terms or context in which to discuss gender. In fact there are and post-modern theorists have been engaging in this type discourse for decades now.
The feminization of Caster Semenya because she doesn’t fit the rigid stereotype of femininity is both a tragedy and atrocity at the same time. Semenya, a self-described tomboy whose dislike of dresses is well known, I suppose felt she had to prove something to the world and go along with the instant makeover that really, come on let’s be realistic, makes her look like either a butch dyke in a dress or a drag queen.
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No one buys that this is the way Semenya “really” is. The caption on You Magazine: “We turn SA’s power girl into a glamour girl—and she loves it” is total hogwash! I certainly do not claim to speak for Caster Semenya, but had she wanted to wear a frilly black dress, let down her cornrows and sport an armful of bangles, she could have—and would have—any time she felt like it. The point is she didn’t, ever. Never ever.
I just know how I would feel if the whole world told me I was not enough of a woman—or the wrong kind of person—because of my supposedly too-masculine presentation and award-winning sports performance. I would feel horrible and embarrassed and might even give in to a makeover to force people to see me as not only a woman, but a human being rather than a specimen to be studied and tested.
Let’s face it: Caster Semenya wasn’t even on anyone’s radar screen until she won the 8K race last month. It’s precisely because did win and all the little femmy girls who couldn’t keep pace with her were extremely sore losers who said horrible nasty things, like mean girl bullies in the schoolyard, that Semenya’s gender became suspect.
The case of Cater Semenya is not over. I sure the spectator sport that this debacle has become will continue for quite some time. Meanwhile an extremely gifted and unassuming young sportswoman named Caster Semenya has been vilified by the entire world.
Has she also been redeemed by appearing on the cover of a magazine in a dress, jewelry and makeup with accompanying editorial telling us how much she “loves it”?
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