When the woman is not a woman

2009/10/18 Korta Hernandez, Nerea - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Genetika
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

Women began practicing athletics in the 1920s (Photo: Christian Dalager ) .

The controversy arises around the winner of 800 meters in the World Athletics Championship in Berlin. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) commissioned the 18-year-old South African Caster Semenya to conduct a gender test.

Those of the IAAF know that he is not a man disguised, since when athletes give urine samples it would be clear. Semenya has female sex organs that have grown as a woman.

However, before publishing the results of the IAAF, on 11 September the Australian daily The Daily Telegraph announced a leak: "According to the results of the tests, Caster Semenya is a hermaphrodite."

Both sexes in the same body

After the release of the news, The Daily Telegraph spread throughout the world and all headlines repeated the word hermaphrodite. But they were very wrong: Semenya is not hermaphrodite.

People with androgen insensitivity syndrome may physically look like a woman, but they have XY chromosomes (Photo: Photoxpress_Galina Barskaya ) .

In humans, there are no known cases of hermaphroditism. In fact, hermaphrodite should be able to produce eggs and sperm, both of them, something that has never happened in humans, but in people with both sexual organs, but in these cases they are sterile.

This is what happens when a person is genetically male (has XY chromosomes) but has a female form. It is called androgen insensitivity syndrome. Androgens are responsible for creating the physical characteristics of men. The lack of response to androgens causes the male organs of the child in the uterus to not develop and acquire a female appearance.

When resistance to androgens is total, these people look like women, but do not have a uterus. In puberty, they develop secondary sexual features of women, such as breasts. But they do not have menstruation, so they are sterile. They often have internal testicles in the abdomen. People with this syndrome are not aware of the problem until they miss the rule or realize they want to become pregnant and can't do it.

Snails, corals and some plants are hermaphroditic. However, the human being cannot be, should be able to produce eggs and sperm (Photo: Sergey Kolesnikov ) .

One in every 20,000 children born suffer from androgen insensitivity syndrome. The only advantage that this syndrome can have in athletics is the level of testosterone, since it is equal to that of men. However, the existence of this syndrome also causes a lack of sensitivity to testosterone, which may be a disadvantage for other women.

But that of Semenya is not the first case. In 1985, in the International University Games, Spanish María José Martínez Patiño was subjected to compulsory sexual control in Japan. The report made it clear that it had XY chromosomes and the license was removed.

Of the 3,387 women who were subjected to gender analysis at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, 8 had Y chromosome and all of them participated in them. Since then they stopped performing mandatory controls. However, in 2006, Indian Santhi Soundarajan received the 800-meter silver medal at the Asian Games for his sex test. Internationally, they are unclear when women stop being women.

Now, the decision of the International Association of Athletics Federations is in the air, the people of South Africa are angry and Caster Semenya does not know if she is a girl or boy. In November the official results of the tests will be given and the medal will be decided.

Published in 7K.