Who out there hasn't heard of Lady Gaga? I would think most as she has won numerous awards and was the first artist to reach over one billion views on youtube.
Perhaps you are not terribly familiar with her though, and the scandal about her sex. It was claimed that she was a hermaphrodite, much like Caster Semenya. She too was hounded by the press, although unlike Semenya she never had to undergo testing (at least I found no record of it).
Both of these women had/have an enormous public presence, a world champion runner and one of the most controversial/popular/groundbreaking artists of the last few years. However, Semenya's career ended because of the scandal and that surrounding Lady Gaga was eventually dropped for the most part. As you can see Lady Gaga's career has continued strong and she was interviewed on Barbara Walters and clearly states that the myth of her intersexuality is false. She also states "I portray myself in a very androgynous way. I love androgyny."
Granted the classification in sports between men&women carries more weight in the arena than does the definition between men&women musicians. This aside do you think it is reasonable that one of these stars could have her career end and then other could have her career skyrocket after facing the same issue? Do you think it was a case of people wanting to tear down winning competition and having that as a plausible jumping off point to raise suspicions? Do you think that Semenya's race&origin left her disadvantaged when dealing with media in comparison to Lady Gaga?
Lady Gaga also released a song called "Born This Way" recently. The song is about loving who you are and where you're coming from. However she also takes a verse to address race and sexuality saying, "
NO MATTER GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BI,
LESBIAN, TRANSGENDERED LIFE
I'M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO SURVIVE
NO MATTER BLACK, WHITE OR BEIGE
CHOLA OR ORIENT MADE
I'M ON THE RIGHT TRACK BABY
I WAS BORN TO BE BRAVE"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw
This is a link to the video, the beginning of it speaks about birth/creation. She talks about a race within a race that knows no prejudice or judgement.
Do you think with all the theatrics (typical of Gaga's performances/appearances) her message is effectively conveyed? Do you think this is a good way to send out the message she seems to be pressing?
I do not think it was reasonable that Semenya's career was ended while Lady Gaga's has skyrocketed. I do think that Semenya's race&origin left her disadvantaged when dealing with media in comparison to Lady Gaga. There seems to be many more pictures of Semenya in masculine poses than Lady Gaga. From the youtube news clips I have watched, I noticed the way people talk about Semenya is different than Lady Gaga. It seems as though even these two people have gone through a similar allegation, Lady Gaga was privileged, probably partially because she is Caucasian.