Trans women in sports. It’s a difficult subject. Obviously we want to be as inclusive and accepting as possible and for everyone to live the life they deserve. At the same time there is safety to consider when you’re talking about competition between people with different biological advantages, etc. It’s a really tricky topic that we’re not going to get to the bottom of today. In fact we’re not even going to talk about it today. Because the woman being attacked and ridiculed and vilified online right now? SHE’S NOT TRANSGENDER!
OK, so if you haven’t seen what started the latest controversy at the Paris 2024 Olympics, there was a women’s boxing match between competitors from the countries of Algeria and Italy. Italian Angela Carini withdrew from her fight with Algerian Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds, saying she’d never been hit so hard before and had to “preserve her life.”
Angela was crying after the match and heard saying the match was “unfair” to her coaches. Whoa. She told reporters:
“I couldn’t carry on. I have a big pain in my nose and I said, ‘Stop’. It’s better to avoid keeping going. My nose started dripping from the first hit. It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too… I fought very often in the national team. I train with my brother. I’ve always fought against men, but I felt too much pain today.”
But what did she mean about it not being fair? Well, the Algerian boxer was disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships last year when the International Boxing Association deemed she had failed a gender eligibility test. She had high levels of testosterone and, apparently, XY chromosomes. We’ll come back to that… but for now, you need to know that was all some people needed to hear — because it meant they could continue their anti-trans crusade.
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The Anti-Trans Crusaders
Many picked up the torch from Angela and ran with it, setting fire to as much as possible along the way. Familiar trans-obsessives like JK Rowling and Elon Musk have weighed in, along with tons of other online commenters who have been conscripted into the culture wars and whipped up into an anti-LGBT panic.
Related: JD Vance’s Idiotic Take On Simone Biles Resurfaces
Rowling, who was once known as a sensitive author of children’s books, believe it or not, posted:
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
Elon, how has his own controversial personal history with trans issues, weighed in:
Absolutely https://t.co/twccUEOW9e
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2024
Donald Trump posted that he will “keep men out of women’s sports” — as a caption on a video of the fight, implying he has bought into the idea Khelif is a “man”:
And on and on and on like that. Just droves attacking Imane Khelif, saying since she’s trans she’s actually a man posing as a woman to compete…
Imane’s Actual Condition
But remember when we said we weren’t talking about trans women in sports? That’s the kicker here. Imane Khelif is NOT TRANS! She’s not intersex. She’s not non-binary. She’s a woman. Born female.
Her high testosterone and XY chromosomes caused quite a row with folks who have a strict, black-and-white idea of what makes a man or a woman. Of course, actual biology doesn’t care about these ideas. It’s not actually as simple as you’re taught in the 101 high school level of biology. The human body is complex. Some women have high testosterone levels and even XY chromosomes due to different conditions.
In Imane’s case, she has some differences of sexual development, or DSDs. This is the collective name for a variety of conditions which cause people to develop slightly differently than the basic idea of two sexes — total XX or XY, the exact amount of estrogen or testosterone, etc. But she is a woman. Born a woman, lived as a woman, has female sex organs and genitalia. She just also has very high testosterone for a woman which makes her better at things like putting on muscle.
The International Boxing Association that disqualified her used to oversee Olympic boxing, but no longer. The IBA doesn’t have any sway anymore. Their gender eligibility test was vague and is not considered reasonable by the International Olympic Committee — who are totally satisfied Imane is a woman. The IOC in a statement on Thursday called the IBA’s disqualification an “arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure — especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.” Spokesperson Mark Adams said Friday:
“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.”
Again, THIS IS A WOMAN. FROM BIRTH.
Now, do her biological differences give her an edge? Absolutely. But isn’t that true of men born taller being better at basketball? Track athletes who produce less lactic acid get take longer to get tired. Hell, Michael Phelps is regularly described as a freak of nature as his lung capacity and wingspan seem genetically engineered to make him the perfect swimmer. But at no point did anyone ever say he shouldn’t compete.
By the way, the narrative JK and Elon and others are obviously pushing is one about a man competing in a woman’s sport, right? And dominating due to biological factors? The thing is, not only do the facts of this particular case not match up with what they’re propagating, the stats don’t either!
At the 2020 Olympics, she only made it to the quarterfinals, being defeated by Ireland’s Kellie Harrington. In 2022 she got second place at the Women’s World Boxing Championships. In all she has an amateur record of 37-9. Nine times other women have beaten her. Impressive, for sure, but hardly dominant. But again, that doesn’t fit the narrative, so you won’t hear those stats from the pitchfork-wielding jerks yelling about trans people. Speaking of the mob…
Other Athletes Being Targeted
No, this is all about wanting to attack the trans community. You know that old saying, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail? Well, when all you have is bigotry, everything apparently looks like trans women.
Imane is not the only athlete being attacked as actually being “a man.” Over the past couple days, rugby star Ilona Maher, who led the USA to gold, has been called trans, a man in drag, and more. Why? She’s built stronger and tougher than a lot of guys. She’s glorious and gorgeous — but she doesn’t fit the super narrow definition of what these folks have decided a woman is.
Ilona posted a video in which she described in tears the attacks she gets online:
“I get comments being called a man and being called masculine and asking if i’m on steroids. There will always be negative people out there. And they put women in a box. And they think women should be fragile and petite and quiet and meek. But that’s not the case.”
You know who else is getting the same treatment? Gold medal swimmer Katie Ledecky! Yes, really!
Same BS, she’s buff and therefore doesn’t fit a bunch of insecure men’s idea of a woman…
JK and Elon and their ilk have turned this into a new Red Scare, but instead of communists the mob are calling everyone secret trans women. It’s really gross what they’re doing. And dangerous.
Important to note: Imane comes from Algeria, an extremely conservative country. Being gay or trans is illegal. You know, much like Trump and JD Vance would like to make it in this country. This means if the boxer’s home country did buy into all these online accusations they could imprison her. This BS isn’t just hurting her chances of finishing out the Olympics, it’s actually endangering her life and her freedom.
The Apology
One last note… Angela Carini, the woman who kind of started all this? She’s actually really upset about that! She told Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport, per the BBC:
“All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”
She even specifically apologized for not shaking Imane’s hand after the fight:
“It wasn’t something I intended to do. Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.”
Angela said if she saw her opponent again, she would “embrace her.”
Even the woman who fought her, the woman who got beaten so badly, recognizes her fellow competitor is a woman. The person for whom it matters most. All these crusaders, who have no expertise or skin in the game, and who really are just exploring their obsession some more…? They’re nominally in the corner of someone who TOTALLY DISAGREES WITH THEM!
Like we said, trans athletes taking part in sports is a tricky wicket. We don’t know what the answer is ultimately. We do know it’s the area these transphobes attack the most because it’s the most difficult. Because if they just attacked Joe or Jenny Q. Trans out here, just knitting or doing carpentry or playing video games or trying to figure out which pineapple is ripe? They don’t have a damn leg to stand on. They know they’ll just come across as weirdos attacking normal people trying to live their lives. So this is what they do. Even when there’s no trans athlete to attack…
[Image via ELBILAD TV/YouTube/MEGA/WENN.]
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