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Eddie B 10:04 Thu Apr 26
Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

The IAAF will apparently announce today that that South African athlete will have to lower her testosterone levels in order to be allowed to race internationally again.

Don't see what the issue is, she's clearly all woman:

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b24db08f348821413f09aa5af171e7a8b112fb3a/0_49_3252_1951/master/3252.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=82fb725a1fbf88b0729c3a23b98f6e20

mashed in maryland 1:15 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Fuck knows what this has to do with a very manly looking South African runner.

Who i totally believe was born female, btw. Some people are just genetic freaks, and i don't mean that in an insulting way. Can't help the way you were born.

Nurse Ratched 1:15 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

All those poor buggers working nights.

mashed in maryland 1:13 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Basically broken, shallow sleep (exacerbated by "screen time" and immobility) is bad for testosterone and growth hormone production (essential for "repairing" the body and mind) and raises cortisol (stress hormone) which over time can play havoc with the human body. This can be made even worse by night work and having to try and sleep during daylight. Compounded with things like shit diet and lack of exercise it can lead to all sorts of almost irreversible hormonal issues for both men and women, not to mention depression, lowered immune system function, impotence and becoming sterile.

Sounds all airy fairy, and I'm certainly no expert/professional, but this is the general upshot of countless studies. The evidence is pretty sound. People in the west aren't moving as much, sleeping as well, or eating as well, and as a result mens and womens hormones are often all over the place, and levels of depression etc are skyrocketing while birth rates are plummeting.

The lesson? Eat better, move more, and get a proper nights sleep.

Otherwise you'll end up turning into a suicidal tranny and The Russians will take over. Possibly.

Nurse Ratched 12:55 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Blimey.

mashed in maryland 12:44 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Yeah. Lack of deep sleep at night is linked to lower test levels in men. Too complicated for a thicko like me to try and articulate on here but that's the general upshot. The reverse is generally also true; "good quality" sleep (not necessarily loads of it) = more healthy hormone levels, in both men and women.

Nurse Ratched 12:12 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Mashed - sleep patterns??

Sven Roeder 12:06 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

I'm just amazed how many top level athletes have asthma.

mashed in maryland 11:59 Sun Apr 29
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

"Difference is that anyone can go and train at altitude etc. (Farah did) as long as you're willing to relocate.

Obviously you can't just mess about with your physiology (as least legally as far as the rules of sport state)"


You'd be surprised. There's loads of material out there relating to how you can "naturally" manipulate your hormone levels, without directly taking a pill or sticking a needle in you. Certain foods, types of training, sleep patterns etc. Its a bit of a grey area.

Btw anyone who thinks that professional sports at all levels isn't saturated in steroid abuse is naive as fuck.

El Scorchio 6:06 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Valid!

Although I suppose if they had both been genuinely living and identifying as female their whole lives (and are definitely genetically closer to female than male) rather than cynically deciding to do that to gain a sporting advantage then I can't help but feel some sympathy. It must be incredibly humiliating.

Hermit Road 4:46 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

“It's harsh on Semenya and the Indian sprinter as they can't help how they were born”

I agree with the sentiment of that, but then I think, why do they only choose to compete in the gender that gives them a massive advantage rather than the gender where they wouldn’t have such a big unnatural advantage? Given the answer to that us obvious, the sympathy gets watered down a bit.

El Scorchio 4:10 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Difference is that anyone can go and train at altitude etc. (Farah did) as long as you're willing to relocate.

Obviously you can't just mess about with your physiology (as least legally as far as the rules of sport state)

It's harsh on Semenya and the Indian sprinter as they can't help how they were born, but it's also unfair on everyone else. Levelling the field testosterone wise is opening a bit of a can of worms though (so to speak) there are going to be loads of people surely who may argue they should be allowed to increase theirs.

The SA government were a bit out of order comparing it to Apartheid though.

scott_d 3:15 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

How about men or women born with unusually low amounts of testosterone? Are they allowed to take drugs to level the playing field?

This just seems wrong to say that someone born a certain way has to take drugs in order to be allowed to compete.

The Africans have certain advantages as distance runners and yet they are not told to take drugs to level the playing field, or to train in lower altitude?

Takashi Miike 2:18 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

you are correct, it is massive

tanman 2:02 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Feel very sorry for all the girls that have to try to compete against 'her'. Massive advantage over all her rivals.

goose 1:17 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

lets be honest - its a fella.

the world has gone mental letting this kind of thing happen. i have no problem with people who want to live their lives whichever way they please - but please dont make the rest of us have to accomodate your choices.

Toe Rag 1:00 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Absolutely 0 surprise that it’s married to a woman.

Tony Gubba 12:46 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Load of bollocks

Sven Roeder 8:17 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Still will be an argument about this as thought we are told we HAVE to respect how people identify themselves.
And the IAAF are telling ‘her’ she isn’t a woman and can’t call herself one.

I am just waiting for some average men’s tennis player (say number 200 in the world) decides he fancies a chance at the equal prize money in the women’s tournament at Wimbledon by announcing he now wants to be regarded as a woman.

arsegrapes 2:58 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Definitely something strange, just looked 'her' up and there is a photo in those tight running suits, looks like 'she' has done a Tom Jones and stuffed a piece of hose pipe down there?

Nurse Ratched 1:42 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

Ron, you inspire me and put all of us dinosaurs to shame.

Of course you're right. As general rule we should respectfully acknowledge that there are (currently) 6,826 different genders and we should first check by which personal pronoun the entity under discussion wishes to be addressed. If this is not possible, we should assign a neutral one. e.g. 'Prat'.

Takashi Miike 1:36 Fri Apr 27
Re: Caster Semenya to lower 'her' natural testosterone levels to race

definately a fella. there's another who ran at the commonwealth games but i cant remember his name

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