Imagine that you have worked and trained for years to get really good at something and, just when you've met one of your highest goals, something fundamental about you is called into question. People demand that this thing be tested and then, they leak the test results and talk about your body in the national media!This is what has happened to Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was forced to take a sex identity test after some people felt she was too masculine to be a female runner. As Rachel pointed out in an earlier post, this in and of itself is insulting and wrong for so many reasons. Apparently, however, the powers that be weren't done with Caster yet. They leaked the results of her testing so that instead of getting to have a private conversation with a physician, she probably found out about her results through the media.What were those results? Basically, I don't care. Caster identifies as female and that's good enough for me. It's not surprising, however, that Caster's sense of her gender isn't good enough for everyone else and so the reporting of her diagnosis as intersex will be sure to cling to the gender binary and present Caster's gender as some kind of exotic condition as much as possible.For a brief primer, the Intersex Society of North America defines intersex as: a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn?t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.Simple enough. And, as it turns out, common enough. Estimates put the number of intersex people at about 1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000. Over 10,000 athletes competed at the Olympic games. You do the math.But back to the media. The New York Daily News is up first since they decided to start out their article this way:

Tests show that controversial runner Caster Semenya is a woman ...and a man!

What is that exclamation point for? The Daily News also insinuated that Caster's internal organ physiology is potentially life-threatening which is most likely referring to a slight possibility of elevated cancer risk, but is not actually cited in the article, leading the imagination to run wild.The Australian Daily Telegraph decided to get incredibly intimate by discussing the location and make up of Caster's genitalia. Does it get any more personal than that?One bright spot in this whole debacle is that South Africa is sticking by Caster. SA's sports minister recently said:

"No one doubts her gender anymore. Now the issue is of the percentages of her gender; this is as disgusting as it is unethical. Caster is a woman, she remains our heroine. We must protect her."

We can only hope that her country continues to support her and that others around the world speak up at the indignity of this media coverage. For a great perspective and to read some of the sadly offensive comments being generated on the internet about this, check out Pam's House Blend.