CommuTalk Reporter
GWERU: Ahead of a race, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) said “It’s a medical issue. She is a human being who was born as a woman and who has grown up all her life as a woman, but who is now in a position where this is being questioned,” as they answered to questions about Caster Semenya’s debated gender.
Having to see specialists including endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, a psychologist, and both internal and external medical examinations, Simenya’s case of verifying her gender is however different to that of Talent Madanhire’s who ‘inserted her enlarged clitoris into the anus’ of a minor complainant.
Not denying the court charges, Madanhire however begged the court top show mercy saying ‘she wanted to see if she had both functional female and male organs.’
Madanhire was born identifying as female.
Confused, the complainant told her aunt that ‘she had been sexually abused by a male person wearing a skirt.’
The Gweru Magistrate’s Court charged and found her guilty of aggravated indecent assault.
She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Scientifically known as clitoromegaly, an enlarged clitoris can be present at birth or develop later in life. Most often, exposure to androgens (a hormone in males) causes this in females.
Cleverland Clinic says the most common reason your clitoris is enlarged is sexual stimulation, similar to an erection in a penis, but, maintains that an enlarged clitoris is not a penis.
They also say exposure to too many androgens. Androgens are sex hormones associated with males.
“In females, having too many androgens in your body may lead to congenital adrenal hyperplasia and with this, one’s clitoris may resemble a small penis” the Clinic wrote on their website.
