Abstract

South Africa and the world at large has failed Caster Semenya, and whatever the conclusion to this story might be, it will hurt, and it will underscore the rigidity of the sex-gender system governing sport, media and representation in general. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the narratives surrounding Caster Semenya’s gender test debacle after her victory at the 2009 Berlin Olympics, and a narrative about a black South African homosexual experience, as recorded in K. Sello Duiker’s “The Quiet Violence of Dreams”. It seeks to demonstrate and account for the tragic consequences when gestures towards fluidity and diveristy collide with the brick wall of hetero-normativity. Duiker committed suicide shortly after writing an account of his young life. It is uncertain what will become of Semenya but in both cases, the discursive limits of “sex” are tested in relation to the continued preoccupation with “race” evident in the world, and these narratives in particular.