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August 21, 2009

The question of sex isn't that simple

runner

The tale of Caster Semenya and whether the world champion sprinter is a man or a woman has been a fascinating topic in sports circles over the last few days. After the masculine-looking 18-year-old girl's first major victory this week at the championships in Berlin, track and field officials said she would be undergoing tests to verify her eligibility as a woman.

Easy as pie, right? The whole Biology 101 thing -- two X chromosomes and you're female and if you have a Y chrosome, you're male, no?

But this piece in the New York Times is the best so far explaining why it just isn't as simple as a blood test to determine whether someone is male or female.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: General Health

Comments

I was wondering her sex at first sight, but if she is classified as a "female", I don't see the problem. It's just another way to humilate a woman.

Sheena, M.B.A.

Posted by: Sheena | August 24, 2009 10:42 AM

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About Picture of Health

Meredith Cohn has been a reporter since 1991, covering everything from politics and airlines to the environment and medicine. A runner since junior high and a particular eater for almost as long, she tries to keep up on health and fitness trends. Her aim is to bring you the latest news and information from the local and national medical and wellness communities.

Andrea K. Walker knows it’s weird to some people, but she has a fascination with fitness, diseases, medicine and other health-related topics. She subscribes to a variety of health and fitness magazines and becomes easily engrossed in the latest research in health and science. An exercise fanatic, she’s probably tried just about every fitness activity there is. Her favorites are running, yoga and kickboxing. So it is probably fitting that she has been assigned to cover the business of healthcare and to become a regular contributor to this blog. Andrea has been at The Sun for nearly 10 years, covering manufacturing, retail , airlines and small and minority business. She looks forward to telling readers about the latest health news.

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