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Friday, 11 September 2009 |
-Media Statement Gender DynamiX 10 September 2009-
“Caster’s has expressed her gender as woman,” says Robert Hamblin chairperson of SA Transgender organisation Gender DynamiX. In the light of the Caster Semenya furore, media has been grappling with the difference between sex and gender. Sex is what the body dictates and gender is how people express themselves on the continuum between male and female. Therefore if Semenya feels that her gender is female we have to respect that expression on a social level.
Earlier today information was leaked to the world media that tests Semenya was subjected to have revealed that she has an intersex condition. Intersex is often referred to by the layman as ‘hermaphrodite.’ The correct terminology according to international and local Intersex organisations is intersex. An estimated 1 in 500 South Africans are born with some form of intersexuality.* This means a person's biological sex is ambiguous.
Semenya’s condition should now be respected as a private matter. The IAAF and the ASA should not withdraw their support of her, but help her to plan her career from here. The IAAF has very clear regulations on how to deal with Intersex competitors, protecting their privacy in this process being one of their rules. “This is an opportunity for South Africans and the world to continue to support an outstanding athlete and an individual who has overcome so many obstacles to her success” says Robert Hamblin.
It is not unusual for intersexuality to only be discovered in adulthood, especially in rural areas where access to quality health care is hard to come by. We should understand that Caster’s diagnosis was a complicated process. The IAAF has clear regulations regarding athletes with intersexuality. Their concern is to establish whether the specifics of the condition gives the athlete an unfair advantage, and does not concern itself with the athlete’s gender.
“It’s clear that Semenya did not cheat, but that she has a biological condition. The fact that a condition like intersexuality exists, reveals that sexual identity is more diverse than we imagined. Beyond the body, gender expression is about what we wear and how we behave”. Says Sally-Jean Shackleton Gender DynamiX board member and director of Women’sNet.
South African law acknowledges and respects the concept of gender expression not being a fixed notion. Gender DynamiX is an organisation that deals with expression of sex and gender on a daily basis and we appeal to the media, politicians and the public to respect Semenya’s privacy and the human rights of all South Africans. We are human first before gender, race, class or creed.
Contact: Liesl Theron 021 633 5287 x 115 Executive Director Gender DynamiX
Or Robert Hamblin 083 226-4683
Intersex Society of South Africa (http://www.intersex.org.za/faqgeneral.html) |
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Thursday, 20 August 2009 |
-Media Statement Gender DynamiX and the Saartjie Baartman Centre
20 August 2009
This week South African media, in particular radio DJ’s and print media have been having a shameless orgy with the gender dispute of our gold medalist heroine competing in Berlin.
Last year we lost a South African sport star to a hate crime because she transgressed gender boundaries. Banyana soccer star Eudy Simelane was murdered in a township because she challenged expected gender stereotypes.
Is our media putting a South African hero’s life in danger on her return, gold medal in hand?
Instead of being proud of our champion the South African media and public is on a witch-hunt trying to define Semenya’s sex. DJ’s on radio are dissecting Semenya’s person to a point of reducing her accomplishments to her genitals.
Says Gender DynamiX Director:” In our work we are reminded of how (wo)men’s bodies are so easily ridiculed and made into a spectacle because of gender notions”. Gender DynamiX focuses its work in the field of transgender,  transsexual and gender non-conforming people.
Civil society organisations, are fighting battles against homophobia and transphobia in South Africa. With their work the killing of black lesbians in acts called “curative rape” has come to light. Gender DynamiX maintains that these hate crimes are not only rooted in sexual orientation but also in Gender identity.
Ilse Ahrends, Partnership coordinator at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Cape Town asks ‘. Alas where was the media when National Banyana-Banyana soccer player, Eudy Simelane was murdered because of her sexual orientation?’
Gender non-conformity does not always equal gay or lesbian. It merely refers to a person physical appearance that does not conform to society’s expectations. In general people are outraged and confused by gender ambiguity.
As in the case of Caster Semenya, when confronted by people who challenge our perceptions of masculinity or femininity, we react with anger and fear. This is the daily reality for many South Africans.
Gender DynamiX board member Simone Heradien says: “We are appalled by public and media mechanisms that spur hate speech of this nature. We should not forget the part of radio in the genocide in Rwanda.”
Contact: Robert Hamblin 083 226 4683. http://www.genderdynamix.org.za
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 |
23 June 2009
The 17th of May served as a significant day as it was the annual International Day Against Homophobia, with its 2009 theme to focus on transphobia. It was also the day Aunt Victoria was rushed into hospital, already unconscious at that stage, due to attempted suicide resulting from ongoing transphobia. She later died in hospital. |
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Saturday, 13 June 2009 |
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On May 28th 2009 in a segment of a radio broadcast by KRXQ 98.5 FM Sacramento's Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning talk show the hosts, Rob Williams and Arnie States, devoted the segment in question to a vicious diatribe against transgender children, some as young as five, focusing in particular on the case of one Omaha family raising a gender dysphoric child, and their decision to support her transition from male to female.
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Friday, 29 May 2009 |
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The Joint Working Group (JWG)1, a network Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) organizations throughout South Africa are deeply disgusted by the comments made by Wesley Kgang the President of the Congress of South African Students in which he stated that Western Cape Premier Helen Zille was “not a woman but suspected of being a lesbian”. |
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