On an Equal Footing

Abstract

Athlete Caster Semenya's successes have, in conjunction with her appearance, led to an inquiry. She appeared to have high levels of testosterone; it was decided that she had to reduce them if she wanted to race against other women. I argue that the recognition of the difference between Caster Semenya and her competitors should not result in this outcome: similar differences exist (in all sports), which are accepted as such. It would be inconsistent to focus on this advantage if one disregards others, while the alternative to realize an outcome in which all differences are removed would yield absurd results.

Equality of competition: A consistent approach to equality of opportunity in sport

“…No longer considering sex relevant here entails, incidentally, that some discussions with respect to the issue of the nature of sex (or gender) become moot. The case of Caster Semenya is a case in point (see Doomen, 2019, passim , and Loland, 2020, p. 584). Semenya's performance as a middle‐distance runner led to the demand for a sex verification test.…”