Two recent cases present an interesting comparison of media coverage of possible or rumoured intersexual celebrities. Rumours surrounding the pop sensation Lady Ga-Ga culminated in an “offended” Lady Ga-Ga having a German reporter removed from a press conference for raising the “ridiculous” issue.Meanwhile controversy surrounding the 2009 800m World Championship gold medallist Caster Semenya looks set to continue with sex test results appearing to prove that she is in fact a hermaphrodite.

If you were asked how you knew you were a male or a female, what would have been your answer? Is it by your looks, by the external genitals? Whatever your answer might be, scientists may not share your view. You may have to get to the laboratory to convince the world that you are either male or female.