The case of South African athlete

Gender row athlete: What is intersexuality?
The case of South African athlete Caster Semenya has sparked worldwide interest following reports that she will be tested by sporting officials to determine whether she is male or female.

This CNN news story raises an intriguing issue. We tend to think of male and female as two discrete states of nature — or two “separate boxes” — with which each of us must have a clear identity .

There has actually been medical evidence for years that such is not the case. “Maleness” and “femaleness” are, instead, two ends of a continuum and we each fall somewhere along that axis. For most us it is a non-issue, because we are so clearly to the right or the left that our identity is clear.

All of the cases of trans gender function are raised when one makes the case that their physiological and psychological “boxes” do not match. So the gender functioning that is not problematic for most people may be a serious issue for a small group of people.

I wonder how compassionate is it to not be empathetic to someone because they are not sure to which “box” they belong.