SEMENYA, THE 'SHE-MAN' OF SOUTH AFRICA?

And Icheoku joins the rest of sceptical world in asking, what gender is Mokgadi Caster Semenya, the new running sensation of South Africa? Is she really a female, a male, a hermaphrodite or even a cross-breed 'she-man'? Is it the perplexity of her triumph at Berlin 2009 or mere jealousy that is fuelling the current 'is she really a female' outbursts or is it a case of an African incredibly out-performing beyond all expectations that "she" must have cheated to achieve that feat?

According to her father, Jacob Semenya, "For the first time South Africans have someone to be proud of and detractors are already shouting wolf. It is unfair. I wish they would leave my daughter alone." Icheoku understands the frustrations of this impoverished South African man from rural northern Limpopo province village, whose daughter's sudden fame is bringing extra baggage of undesired and unintended dimension. Icheoku says that the Young Communist League was wrong is saying that the gender probe was chauvinistic and fed into stereotypes of how woman should look and smacked of racism; rather Caster Semenya is all a man but for her possible anatomical crevices. We are emphatic that women do not look like her as she looks every inch a man or rather a tom-boy; but like her grand-mother said and rightly too, if Caster had a choice she would change her appearance but "God made her so"! What a powerful argument that should rest the matter but not so soon, as controversy is a factor of fame and the whole world is frenzied out, discussing if she is really a female? Remember the American musician, Grace Jones?

According to International Athletic Association Federation (IAAF) official, due to the speed of her rise from unknown competitor to eventual world champion, a gender test, which takes several weeks to complete, could not be done in time for the world championships. Icheoku asks, what other gender test is required for a female who menstruates, squats to urinate and possibly have a boy-friend or a girl-friend? Not every woman will have to be a Miss Universe or beauty queen; as some of them were made to be married by their fathers; so what the heck if Caster Semenya is not feminine enough or lady-like or even ugly? Who cares really, but a bunch of partisans who would rather the 800 meters women world champion looked like a real woman with clearly defined features - figure 8 with a protruding chest and a well-rounded backside as well as a 'please help me lift this and that' syndrome, symptomatic of the female folks?

But were she an Angelina Jolie, may be she will not be an athlete today but would have ended up in Hollywood or on a Brad Pitt's arm? But to each her own and Caster Semenya made good use of her none femininity by mastering the tracks? Like the African National Ccogress (ANC) rightly pointed out, "Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the International Association of Athletics Federation should know better."And Icheoku adds, if they are in doubt, they should take a good look at the Williams sisters - Venus and Serena, the Amazons of the Tennis world, as they too are not particularly gifted with feminist looks but they sure know how to use the racket.

Whether Semenya have been unduly "humiliated and treated like a leper" will depend on the eventual outcome of the gender test, which will debunk all these suspicions of her sexuality? But until then, when it is conclusively determined, in the spirit of 'innocent until proven guilty' we ask that Semenya be treated as a female, period!

Icheoku says, what is all the hullabaloo about a gender test when a six minutes liaison with her boyfriend or a check by a female doctor can dissipate all the rumours about the sex of the fastest woman on earth, Caster Semenya? Admitted she looks every inch like a guy - one hot dude for that matter, but her mother, her birth-certificate and possibly her urinating posture have all pointed to her femininity; so the matter should rest and an apology tendered to the fleet-footed South African girl, whose only sin is that midway her creation, her maker changed his mind and instead of a phallus, bestowed her with a funnel? But now that the question of her gender has been raised, and for the interest of her competed colleagues, let it be conclusively determined for a rest of the mind. What a complexity of sexuality, as Icheoku hails the new 800-metres women world champion at 1minute 55.45seconds, 18-year-old Mokgadi Caster Semenya, the suspected man or rather 'she-man' of South Africa? Congratulations on your record performance!