"The newspaper said the IAAF was trying to contact the athlete to inform her of the results"

Trying to contact her and the rest of the world already knows.

If they did that in the US they'd be open to a HIPAA lawsuit.

Yeah, gender doesn't work that way. She could have been born with a male, female, or intersex body and look like that, and she can look like that and identify as a man or a woman. The person in that picture could be a cis woman, a trans woman, a drag performer, a woman born trans or intersex, or a cross-dressing man. What I mean is that the photo doesn't prove anything and the way she looked before doesn't prove anything either. And the test results wouldn't really be affected by how she looks on the cover of a tabloid....

The whole thing about her saying she loves it though, well, I hope she really does. Because it makes me sick to think that she'd be forced to say something like that because of political and economic pressure on her, that she loves succumbing to the gender police, trust her!

Can't people just grow up?

Someone should tell her that stilettos are not just bad for her image they are awful for her fortunate feet. On the altar of short term "beauty" many women undergo horrible bunion surgeries.

To me, Castor is a woman incapable of becoming pregnant, but otherwise a woman. I hope that this does not ruin her sports career. I further hope this does not ruin her mental health.

To see the depths of inhumanity, ignorance, malice and spite that intersexed people are subject to, you have to go no further than the New York daily News.

Here's a fragment I've been cutting-and-pasting in various places on the internet, in the belly of the beast, as it were. The facts are relevant here on Bilerico, as there's ignorance aplenty, but not the malice, thank goodness.

If the reports are correct, Ms Semanya has PAIS-6. Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome grade 6, where grade 7 is Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS).

What this means is that she's almost completely immune to testosterone and other androgens. "Almost", but not quite completely. If she'd had CAIS, she'd be ultra-feminine, more so than standard factory model women. It's an open secret that most of the supermodels who don't have children have CAIS, as did Miss Teen USA 1991.

From the Internation Amateur Atletics Association rules on the subject :

(The crux of the matter is that the athlete should not be enjoying the benefits of natural testosterone predominance normally seen in a male)

6. Conditions that should be allowed:- Androgen insensitivity syndrome (Complete or almost complete - previously called testicular feminization);- Gonadal dysgenesis (gonads should be removed surgically to avoid malignancy);- Turner’s syndrome.

(b) Those conditions that may accord some advantages but nevertheless acceptable:- Congenital adrenal hyperplasia;- Androgen producing tumors;- Anovulatory androgen excess (polycystic ovary syndrome).

Unlike other women, she cannot get the full performance benefits of testosterone, since she's almost immune to the stuff. Having three times the female average could well be less effective when it comes to building muscle mass than a normal amount in an average women. Many female athletes have high natural levels of testosterone anyway - though still a third or less of an average male, and a tenth of a male athlete.

As regards the "dangerous condition" of internal testes, the danger isn't exactly immediate. There's a tenfold normal risk of cancer, and it would be wise to have 6-monthly checks, and gonadectomy if any pre-cancerous lesions are found, but that's it. At worst, 1 in 50, and the estrogen, the female sex hormone also produced by the testes, is useful for preventing oteopyrosis and other conditions, so it's swings and roundabouts. The real reason for gonadectomy is to stop other people from being upset about the idea of a woman with testes in her body.

I've stated the IAAA's policy - but that policy is not always followed. The Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan had CAIS, but was stripped of her medals by Indian authorities, not because she had an advantage, but purely for being Intersexed, a sub-human. She attempted suicide shortly thereafter, as Ms Semanya may do.

She's an 18 year old girl from a backwoods African rural village who has given her all to become a world-class athlete. Now she's had the double blow of being told she'll never be able to have children, and having her life and ambitions shattered by a global surge of ignorant bigotry.

Some of which is apparent in these comments.(actually no, not at Bilerico...)

Oh yes, I'm Intersexed too. I'm also 51, a middle-aged woman old enough to be a grandma, and used to this kind of thing. She's only a teenage girl. Some here forget that. (Present company excepted - Bilerico is alas, atypical)

We have a woman at church who looks as manly as Caster and has used to her advantage, being a father for the father-daughter dances (partner's child and grand child) and a woman when she needs to be. She is 67, been with her partner (female) over 20 years and says she has looked like a boy all her life, even doing drag king shows. She is happy with herself, an important member of the church and is quick to tell you that she is a girl. If you ask her if she considers herself trans or lesbian she says, "I'm just me".

God does not make mistakes although we are free to change ourselves if that makes us more comfortable. I just hope Caster is able to deal with this without becoming severely depressed and/or committing suicide, but she needs to be protected. She is really just a young kid and should not have to go through all this. They need to let her run and win and have a life as the woman she is.