Western Colonization Has Affected The Ways Countries

Western Colonization has affected the ways countries view themselves in various facets from economically to socially. Although the initial wave of colonialism has somewhat passed, that is the act of going and occupying other territories , Western ideals still manage to have an effect on how countries conduct themselves and how they respond to different situations . When examining South Africa s response to the treatment of Caster Semenya by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) we see this playing out. Semenya is an intersexed South African track star, forced to undergo gender-verification testing in response to her gold medal win at the World Track and Field championship The reasoning behind the call for the†¦show more content†¦Evidence of this idea of scientific racism dates back to the 19th century, when Saartjie Baartman, a South African women, was transported to Britain and France to be scientifically studied as a cause celebre(170). Baartman s exhibit consisted of her being portrayed in a cage for a period of time until she then paraded around the viewers and underwent poking and touching. Viewers could not believe that her buttocks† was real, and subsequently, after her death, George Cuvier [claimed] her body in the interests of science(Hill Collins 26). When thinking about this is comparison to Semenya s affair, it would seem like this was once again a case of a South African women being degraded based on physical appearance and questioning of their African aesthetics. Instead of this being a case of hypersexuality (the over sexualization of black women by the Western world) Semenya would be subject to an increased sexual regu lation. While Baartman was viewed with fascination, Semenya was viewed with contempt, even being referred to as a â€Å"man† by one of her competitors (Dworkin 138). Ironically, had Semenya been born male and chosen to identify as such she would never had undergone the gender-verification testing as a result of not only male privilege but also cisgender privilege. The entire practice of gender-verification is really used to confirm femaleness because of the assumption that superior athletics performances are a natural essence of