Caster Semenya-21st Century Sara Baartman?

I have come to wretch you away –
away from the poking eyes
of the man-made monster
who lives in the dark
with his clutches of imperialism
who dissects your body bit by bit
who likens your soul to that of Satan
and declares himself the ultimate god!


I have come to soothe your heavy heart
I offer my bosom to your weary soul
I will cover your face with the palms of my hands
I will run my lips over lines in your neck
I will feast my eyes on the beauty of you
and I will sing for you
for I have come to bring you peace.

Dianna Ferrus 'A Poem For Sara Baartman'


Caster Semenya's unfolding story, especially in the early stages of it eerily reminded me of the other South African woman who found herself in a situation in which her body was subjected to worldwide speculation and the center of controversy in Sara Baartman.

When Semenya's story broke in the wake of the 2008 IAAF championships in Berlin I thought about the similarities between what the early 19th century medical people of Baartman's day and our early 21st century medical people subjected young Caster to in the name of sport.

In Caster's case she had the additional drama of a 24 hour news cycle, the Net or instantaneous worldwide communication such as Twitter and Facebook to spread the rumors, innuendo and speculation surrounding the story.

It's also one more manifestation of the unwoman meme that women of the African diaspora consistently find themselves being smacked with and wearying at times.

It's also being put in the no-win situation of if we excel at a sport, it's because we're presumed to have 'natural talent', not that we busted our asses training to become the best in the world at what we do.  But if we come out of nowhere and explode on the international athletics scene in a spectacular fashion, then a woman of color athlete is suspected of or automatically assumed to be cheating.  


Semenya, like her countrywoman Baartman did two centuries ago continues to face almost endless speculation about her body.   Only her, her family, her doctors and the IAAF know for sure and the fact she had a non-standard gender presentation exacerbated the rush to judgment in the court of public opinion.  

There is also the element of Semenya being in the situation that no matter how well she does at any track meet from now on, for some people it'll be under a cloud of suspicion..