12:46 am - 07/08/2012
Track and field star Pinki Pramanik burst onto the world stage as a symbol of India’s coming-of-age, emerging from a life of poverty in a backwater village to win gold at the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
Now, Pramanik is a symbol of her country’s ham-fisted policing and justice system. After a woman claiming to be her live-in partner accused her of being a man masquerading for years as a woman, police arrested Pramanik and leaked a video of her taking a so-called nude test to determine her gender.
The video, which has gone viral, is graphic by Indian standards and has roiled the tradition-bound society. Its release has stoked a storm of criticism from human-rights advocates and prompted Kolkata’s high court to order an investigation into police treatment of the Indian sports star.
Pramanik, 26, was arrested by police in Kolkata two weeks ago and charged with impersonation, rape, and physical assault. Police filed a subsequent charge of intimidation after the retired sprinter initially refused to be subjected to a medical exam.
The case has sent shockwaves through India’s athletics community. Pramanik had anchored the Indian women’s 400-metre relay team to a gold medal in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and silver in the Commonwealth Games in Sydney the same year.
Two days after laying charges against her, police held a press conference to discuss the results of her medical exam. At the same time, a 29-second video clip of the former runner lying naked on a bed was leaked after Pramanik agreed to a gender verification test at a private nursing home in West Bengal.
As authorities wait for the results of her test and deal with the public-relations disaster following the video’s release, Pramanik remains in custody and is the country’s most discussed sports celebrity, even as other Indian athletes prepare to compete at the London Summer Olympics in a few weeks.
More at the Source:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic
India’s track and field star Pinki Pramanik embroiled in gender controversy
Track and field star Pinki Pramanik burst onto the world stage as a symbol of India’s coming-of-age, emerging from a life of poverty in a backwater village to win gold at the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
Now, Pramanik is a symbol of her country’s ham-fisted policing and justice system. After a woman claiming to be her live-in partner accused her of being a man masquerading for years as a woman, police arrested Pramanik and leaked a video of her taking a so-called nude test to determine her gender.
The video, which has gone viral, is graphic by Indian standards and has roiled the tradition-bound society. Its release has stoked a storm of criticism from human-rights advocates and prompted Kolkata’s high court to order an investigation into police treatment of the Indian sports star.
Pramanik, 26, was arrested by police in Kolkata two weeks ago and charged with impersonation, rape, and physical assault. Police filed a subsequent charge of intimidation after the retired sprinter initially refused to be subjected to a medical exam.
The case has sent shockwaves through India’s athletics community. Pramanik had anchored the Indian women’s 400-metre relay team to a gold medal in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and silver in the Commonwealth Games in Sydney the same year.
Two days after laying charges against her, police held a press conference to discuss the results of her medical exam. At the same time, a 29-second video clip of the former runner lying naked on a bed was leaked after Pramanik agreed to a gender verification test at a private nursing home in West Bengal.
As authorities wait for the results of her test and deal with the public-relations disaster following the video’s release, Pramanik remains in custody and is the country’s most discussed sports celebrity, even as other Indian athletes prepare to compete at the London Summer Olympics in a few weeks.
More at the Source:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic
and smh @ them leaking that video :/
Or so says Wiki. No result from the chromosome test yet.
why would they make these images public
Edited at 2012-07-08 02:38 pm (UTC)
Does anyone know the name of the athlete that was previously accused of this? I think it involved having male characteristics as the result of high testosterone levels or something?
People must be jealous of her beauty, which is so high school, but honestly, I just wanted to work in a way to say: Male or Female, however she wishes to be addressed, she's still bloody gorgeous.
Chromosomes, genitalia, hormones, body types and shapes etc don't determine gender. Gender isn't determined by an arbitrary cultural or social idea of what men and women look like, act like, think like, feel like, are like. A 'real' woman is someone who identifies as a woman. A 'real' man is someone who identifies as a man. Then there are those who identify as both or neither or take a third, fourth, fifth option. Cause gender isn't a binary. People assume gender is a strict progression of male to female. But actually, from a non-binary, non-judgmental viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, gendery-bendery... stuff
Edited at 2012-07-08 02:57 pm (UTC)
btw, the angels have the phonebox.Your icon is giving me life, btw. Perfection.
Haha I remember seeing this on tumblr, and I always appreciate a good DW reference.