Really interesting controversy about an 18-year old South African track star whose gender is being questioned. Why biological sex is different from gender is something you learn in anthropology and sociology courses but is generally not discussed in ordinary conversations. Human variation is too broad for the distinct categories we use in everyday life, like man or woman, straight or gay, black or white.
Is this person a woman? Yes, I think so, because she identifies as a woman, regardless of what sort of plumbing she has. Is she categorically, biologically female? I don't know. But it's important to recognize that everyone she competes against has different levels of estrogen and testosterone, different secondary sex characteristics, and maybe even different primary sex characteristics. Maybe this woman is at the masculine end of the spectrum of female variation. But where is the line drawn? When a case like this comes up, it complicates our common sense understanding of sex and gender.
UPDATE: From the BBC, a blog post about the athlete and the reaction here and the ANC's response here.
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