When is a Woman not a Woman....?

Sounds like the beginning of a really funny joke doesn't it?  Well it's not. It's not funny and it's certainly no joke. A few years back a talented young South African athlete by the name of Caster Semenya was dragged into fame in a really unpleasant way, instead of being praised and made famous around the world for her talent... running and my word can she run! She was dragged into the limelight because some saddo's at the IAAF decided that she possibly wasn't a female at all.

Now once upon a time knowing what sex you were was a very simple thing, if you had testicles and a penis ... simple, you're a man,  if you have ovaries, boobs and a vagina then you're a woman... it's a given!  Although granted there are some men who have the testicles, the penis and a set of impressive boobs as well  but they are still men. Yes?   Well apparently this is no longer the case.  Now it seems you can have the requisite bits and pieces that are indicative of your sex and yet still have some smart alec stand up and say "ooooh no you're not that because you have too many hormones."

What???? hormones?  When did hormones come into it?  When did all these other "tests" become essential to decide what sex we are?  I have polycystic ovaries and therefore I have too much testosterone in my blood and hair in places that men get hair... does that make me a man?  Well if it does I should be rich then cos I already am the first man to have a baby by about 18 years!

What has been even more irritating in this particular situation is not only did the IAAF keep Caster out of athletics for 8 months whilst they decided amongst them whether or not she was a woman but they only backed off when a court case loomed.  Good on you Caster for standing your ground say I.

The IAAF didn't in the end give in to common sense or science that Caster is a woman, no the real reason they found in her favour and finally let her compete again was because if they had been taken to court their testing policy would not only have been legally tested but it would also have opened the door to them being challenged by all the other athletes they still have hanging around in limbo.

Let's be clear here without science there would not even be a question of what makes a man a man and a woman a woman... if you have female sexual organs, you're a bird, enough said.

So I guess the punchline to the joke... When is a Woman not a Woman?   Has to be... When you're a woman good at something that men feel threatened by. 

Still not funny is it...