Wonkam Ambroise, Fieggen Karen, Ramesar Raj
Division of Human Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
J Genet Couns. 2010 Dec;19(6):545-8. doi: 10.1007/s10897-010-9320-2. Epub 2010 Sep 8.
Caster Semenya won the eight-hundred-meter title in the Berlin World Athletics Championships in 2009. Few hours after, Caster was at the center of a harsh contestation on gender. The International Association of Athletics Federations started an investigation, which was not respectful of her privacy. Caster's case highlights the need for an improvement in the awareness of genetic counseling principles amongst professionals, the public and various stakeholders. We critically examine the historical steps of gender verification in the Olympics, the violation of genetic counseling principles in Caster's case and outline some reflections on the complexity of the genetics of Disorders of sex development (DSD). Variability in both genotypes and phenotypes in DSD may not allow any etiological or functional classification at this point in time that could permit uncontroversial gender verification for fairer sport participation. We strongly suggest revisiting the pertinence of gender verification, and the process whereby this is done.
卡斯特·塞门亚在2009年柏林世界田径锦标赛上赢得了800米冠军。几小时后，卡斯特成为了一场关于性别的激烈争议的焦点。国际田联展开了一项调查，该调查并不尊重她的隐私。卡斯特的案例凸显了专业人士、公众和各利益相关方提高对遗传咨询原则认识的必要性。我们批判性地审视了奥运会性别验证的历史进程、卡斯特案例中对遗传咨询原则的违反，并概述了对性发育障碍（DSD）遗传学复杂性的一些思考。目前，DSD的基因型和表型的变异性可能不允许进行任何病因学或功能分类，从而无法实现无争议的性别验证以促进更公平的体育参与。我们强烈建议重新审视性别验证的相关性以及进行性别验证的过程。
