Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion in track, here adapts her adult biography for middle grade readers.
Semenya begins with a prologue in which she says that she is intersex, explaining, “I have what is called a difference of sex development. To put it simply, on the outside I am female and I have a vagina, but I do not have a uterus.” Her body also produces a higher amount of testosterone than those of most people with vaginas. She did not realize this, however, until at age 18, she was “forced to undergo a humiliating medical procedure” after winning the world championships. Although now knows she is intersex, she says, she doesn’t see herself that way, asserting, “Even though I am built differently than other women, I am a woman.” She was a tomboy as a child, however, but her family, community, and country “accepted me as I was and never made me feel like an outsider.” That changed when the (largely White) track and field authorities decided to question her gender and her body.
Semenya then takes us back to her childhood growing up in a small village in newly post-apartheid South Africa, where she always felt like “a different kind of girl,” uninterested in the same things other girls were, and finding a passion in athletics. She also shares her early recognition that “When I grow up, I’m going to marry a woman”—and her later marriage to a fellow track athlete, with whom she has two children.
As her wins increased and her fame as an athlete grew, some began to question her success. She was subjected to unwanted exams to “prove” that she was a woman and forced to take hormones in order to reduce her naturally high levels of testosterone and continue to compete. Semenya shares wrenching anecdotes about the many negative mental and physical effects of such hormones and her long legal battles simply to compete—and to live—as herself, battles often tinged with racial prejudice as well.
Semenya’s story sheds light on the important topic of intersex rights and inclusion. Additionally, while she does not identify as transgender, Semenya’s story ties into many of the debates currently raging about whether and how to include trans athletes in sports. Her story shines a light on how difficult it can be to draw hard and fast lines of separation.
This is the gripping story of a world-class young athlete with perseverance and strength, trying to succeed not only against challenges like finding a coach and dealing with injury, but also with personal and institutional bias that violated her bodily autonomy and restricted her skills. Nevertheless, Semenya writes, “At the end of the day, I live for those I love, I live for the people who believe in the work I do. I mind my business, and I don’t back down from any challenge.”
This will likely be an inspiring volume to many readers for many different reasons.
