Orville Taylor | Gendered unfairness in sport

A Rastaman looked at a social media post regarding the sex of the twin sons of track and field legend Usain Bolt and said that some of the children’s names were appropriate – Lightning and Thunder – but he wanted to add brimstone and fire. Someone took issue with CNN declaring that the two biological males were in fact boys. Thus, what should have been the course of action was to not impose sexual identity on the babies as no one knows if they will later identify as male or female. So despite the boys having a little protrusion and a small sac just under it, with yet undescended testicles, the biology means nothing.

For those of us in the behavioural sciences who accept that socialisation is the dominant factor in determining identity and behaviour, this refusal to assign any gender at birth is at best pseudo-science, if not cryptozoology. We have yet to fully understand the complexities of socialisation and its dialectic with the human brain. People can play their selfish games of privileging if they wish, but the preservation of the species requires some types of biological distinction and certain acts that are not gendered. So as my colleague Herbert Gayle warned, we must stop trying to prevent boys from being boys. After all, when the biological males and females copulate, they are certainly not in bed having gender.

BIOLOGY WINS

Sexual/gendered roles are fundamental to all mammals, and this has nothing to do with sexuality. Lesbians like girls and gay men like men. In fact, a gay male associate once told me a story where he invited a younger man out. On reaching to pick him up, the fellow came down in a blouse-looking top and a pair of shorts, with a fitting nickname made popular by a 1992 Buju Banton Song. The elder gay man chased him inside to change his clothes and remarked, “I am a gay man and I like men. If I wanted a girl, I would go and look a real one.” Call him any phobic you wish, but for all our socialisation and gender identification, biology wins. Until we can find a way for humans to breathe through oxygen dissolved in water or sprout feathers, we are mammals, and we better suck that in.

Now, the issue is not whether individuals are free to self-identity as male or female, in spite of the hardware God gave them. What the extremist was saying was, leave the children to develop their own. Apparently, to raise themselves. Well, whatever type of man my son is going to be, I am going to let him know that he is a boy, and when he learns to aim his stream while standing up like daddy, he will know that his father is both male and man. Indeed, there is a difference between a mail man, a male carrier, and a male man, but that is a discussion for another time.

DISHONEST APPROACH

What is so ridiculous is the dishonesty and indeed prejudiced approach that some sexual minority advocates have. And interestingly, it plays out nowhere worse than in the field of sport, in the year of the Olympics. In our favourite sport, track and field, some natural-born women have been banned from competing with other women because they are not female enough.

I recalled with some mischief that South African runner Caster Semenya’s name betrayed her and that Kenyan Margaret Wambui, whose surname sounds like what Jamaicans call a male child or a male with little respect. Add to the list Francine Niyonsaba from Burundi, whose natural testosterone levels are deemed by the IAAF to be too high. All these ladies are black, though admittedly a trifle more manly than Michael or Norman.

When they were first banned, I asked whether males, whose testosterone output was below the norm, and who must study to pass a gender/sex test, should be allowed to take nandrolone or horse tonic to make them more mannish than goat head soup.

Now, let me make it clear, this is not about sexuality. There are many ‘tough’ women, with deeper voices than mine, and Coca Cola bottle-shaped (two-litre), who are as straight as their waistlines and totally enjoy sex with men only. Conversely, scores of lesbians are beauty contestable. It is about identity, sex, and fairness.

New Zealander Laurel Hubbard born as a man but apparently did the snip and tuck, after 30 plus years of life, must have taken more drugs than would make our entire track and field team fail multiple tests to compete as a woman. If straight, natural-born women can be banned for life because of the lasting effect of the testosterone they take, it is hypocritical to think that the advantage of decades of having testosterone-drenched muscles can disappear in four or even 10 years.

While sex in certain events such as archery, shooting, equestrian, or even BMX cycling might not give born males an advantage, Hubbard is no Old Mother. She is a weightlifter.

Fair is fair, but this feels like Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright.

- Dr Orville Taylor is head of the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.