Re a leboga Caster, thank you . . .

This is what all South Africans, in fact this is what the whole world should be saying to this gifted athlete. The world does not give a damn though.

There is an apparently Chinese proverb that goes "when you are being shown the moon, do not look at the finger". A lot has been written and said about Caster Mokgadi Semenya, the women's 800m champion. The greater part of what was said and written had less to do with her achievement on the track than it did with the controversy around her sex. I say sex because I have come to learn that gender is another long and complex story. Sad as this whole saga has been, it has also been a gift to us, one for which we should be very grateful. In fact, the abominable treatment to which Caster has been subjected to has for the rest of us become a series of gifts.

The first gift is that we now know that just because people are writing or talking about something, does not mean they know what they are talking or writing about. It just means that they are exercising their right to express their view on the matter. A lot of what was carried in the media, both print and electronic, betrayed gross ignorance of the issues involved in this young athlete's saga. My own bigotry and prejudice made me have a second look when her picture was splashed across the front pages of newspapers. I found myself thinking and saying (to my best friend) ". . . eish, I'm not sure. Just look at . . ." Thanks to Caster and writings of those who know what sex, gender and identity are all about, I have recognised the bigot in me and now have an opportunity to deal with it. It also helped that a friend is a gynaecologist. The issue is that Caster does not fit in with the picture that we have formed of what is female, and therefore needs scrutiny and tests. Please, before you choke me, this is separate from the issues of fair competition that IAAF will tell you about. So, gift number 1: thou shalt no make your bigotry and prejudice into some objective standard or measure, there is lots of science behind sex and gender.

We do this all the time though; from the way people dress, walk or speak; we judge and categorise them into little neat boxes. What they do or say thereafter does not count for squat. One of my own is routinely stopped at the entrance of female public toilets and asked if she's sure this is where she want to be. She routinely lifts her usually baggy top to show that she is female, No she does not flash! Amazingly this always gets her a pass into the "ladies". Well, a lot can be said about the kind people who just want to make sure that she is not lost or making a mistake about the toilets. The fact is, it is on her general appearance that she is routinely suspected of not being female.

The second gift is that it never hurts to find out some facts behind the sensational story. Failure to do so, puts you squarely within the first gift above. Some limited research into the whole gender issue will quickly reveal the complexity that surrounds it. Hermaphroditism, although fairly common, is still spoken of in hushed tones. There are XY's out there with fully developed female genatalia and breasts. You have surely read stories of individuals claiming to be trapped in a "woman's" or "man's" body when in fact they are the opposite. You have also read about the man who has given birth in US. It is in our laziness to fully consider these issues that we are comfortable to dismiss human beings as "freaks". Those that are against homosexuality and are happy to persecute human beings for not choosing to love within the stereotype; do not know anything about homosexuality - oh, except that it is not natural. The fact is, it does not fit in with the generally accepted world view, therefore it must be wrong. And then of course there is the Bible, reportedly written by God "Himself" - enough said. Now, thanks to Caster, people have an opportunity to go and look into the issue of gender and maybe understand that it is a continuum rather than a point.

Finally, the IAAF, like all other world bodies, have now emphatically been shown up for what it and they are, thanks to Caster. Next year will be the first time that the Fifa soccer world cup will be held on the African continent. It is no small wonder that it is the African country that is the most European that earned the honour. South Africa is a lot of things but Black is not one of them. Of course there are millions of Black people living in this country but you know the townships don't count, right? A quick look at TV programming, public events, etc. will quickly illustrate this point. It is only in the last 2 years that advertisers discovered Black people, even then, only those Black people closest to White. On this basis and thanks to the lobby of the current Fifa president, the soccer world cup is coming. Oh, then there was the issue about the vuvuzela? Welcome to my world! You will of course remember the late Dempsey. Can you imagine what happened at the voting that year? All those fair minded gentlemen who said No!

Now what about the IAAF? They have apparently had to deal with this difficult issue of gender on no less than 9 occasions that I am aware of. There were reportedly 8 women tested during the Atlanta games all of whom apparently "passed" the test. And then there was a particular woman who having "passed" the test, subsequently "failed" and was stripped of her medal. Now, here is the slit in the IAAF's fairness skirt: I have not before the Caster furore heard of all the 9 cases. More importantly, no names or photographs of the athletes behind the cases seem to have been made public either during or after their tests. If they were, it was probably in some specialised publications rather than in the general media, I don't know. In short, the athletes, as they should have been, were treated with decency, decorum, sensitivity and respect. Against this background, why did the IAAF now hang Caster out to dry? What about her case did not merit decency, decorum, sensitivity and respect?

There has been something made of the incompetence of the SA athletics body. I'm not sure how this body should have dealt with this issue really. My understanding is that insofar as they were and are concerned, they have among their athletes a talented women's 800m contender now world champion. So, what were they meant to do? Approach the IAAF on some, "we know what you guys are thinking so just to set the record straight . . ."? The IAAF had concerns, which in their own words were fuelled by rumours, so it was the IAAF that had to deal with this matter. By the way, it is their job to deal with these type of issues, I take no issue with that. They however handled this one so callously as to amount, albeit in my mind, to malice. So, another gift from Caster: trust these international bodies at your own peril.

I hope that our collective gratitude to Caster will go beyond letters to the editors, protests, welcoming her at the airport and all those public expressions of outrage. I hope our gratitude to her would be displayed in the way that we look upon and treat those that we see as different. The way we interact with those that do not fit our bigoted pictures of what should be. Everytime that we interact those who are different, and we remember that they are no less human, no less deserving of decency and respect, then we would be paying homage to this talented athlete - then we would be emphatically saying: Caster Mokgadi Semeny, re a leboga, siyabonga, dankie, thank you.

And by the way, congratulations on your victory, you are afterall the women's 800m world champion.