It seems much of the world is with Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif and her involvement in women’s boxing after her first-round opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, tapped out after 46 seconds.
Although Khelif has been identified as female, testing by the International Boxing Association, which is not identified by the International Olympic Committee, indicated that Khelif possibly had XY chromosomes.
After Khelif landed a good blow to Carini in the face, the Italian boxer stopped the attack due to a sore nose. He later explained that he was not making a political statement.
Social media didn’t seem to care. In this time of heightened transphobia and cultural division, many other people have been quick to claim that Kehlif is male and/or transgender.
Others have tried biological differences, and many have noted that Khelif’s conservative culture does not conform to other transgender people and in fact would not consider a transgender woman with a passport to label her as a woman or send a transgender user as an Olympian.
Amid some more dust in the culture wars, I find myself thinking about how Khelif will feel to see the world talking about his genitals and chromosomes. She has been boxing since she was a child and has lost to many women over the years. she, she added at the Tokyo Olympics, where she reached the quarterfinals but was eliminated by Ireland’s Kellie Harrington.
I can’t even believe what it must have felt like for her to have understood herself as a woman her entire life, only to have a chromosome check recommend something different.
Khelif’s experience, like that of Caster Semenya before her, suggests that rather than attacking individual athletes, we want to have a reasoned and nuanced discussion about sex, gender, and play so that we can make informed decisions related to participation. Targeting and shaming individual athletes is not aimed at harming them or others like them.
So why is it so difficult for us, especially in the United States, to have such an obligatory conversation?I can think of a few reasons.
Only 28% of Americans may have clinical knowledge, while 70% do not perceive the science section of the New York Times. This means that most Americans do not understand what science is or how it works and do not know the fundamental clinical facts. For example, a quarter of Americans do not perceive that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Most Americans are not prepared to deal with the clinical literature on sex and gender. On social media they use terms like chromosomes and hormones, but they literally don’t know what those things are or how they work.
This makes it very difficult to have a verbal exchange about frame diversity. However, given the structure of the game around the frame, this is an essential verbal exchange. The sport is based on the assumption of two types of frames: male and female. Still, the science is undeniable for many bodies. We can’t even begin to talk about what to do with those bodies in the game until we understand what those differences mean.
Many posters have called Khelif “transgender,” although he surely isn’t. This moment in the culture war that brought transgender people to the forefront is shaping the way other people understand the boxer, regardless of the facts about her. In fact, anti-trans activists like J. K. Rowling have even gone so far as to call Khelif “masculine. “While social media influencer Logan Paul has stated his role in spreading incorrect information about Khelif, Rowling has not deleted his post.
The divisions of the culture wars mean that other people are quick to take sides based on who is “woke” or “anti-awakened,” without much idea or investigation of the facts.
We can’t have nuanced conversations if we simply align ourselves with “our” side, especially on issues that arguably have more than two sides. Nor can we have conversations if we are not willing to acknowledge that we would possibly be wrong.
Our society is based on the binary and the hierarchy of genders. Instead of focusing on our common humanity, we focus on our differences and delineate the other through them. We then use those differences to justify hierarchies, such as men versus women. other white people compared to other people of color, etc. Questioning the constant nature of sex/gender would alter the foundations of gender hierarchy and male domination.
We don’t think of those disorders in those terms because they are so deeply ingrained that they are invisible, supposedly natural, and inevitable. So, for example, many other people have long argued that women’s gender makes them more emotional than men, in fact. too emotional to be something vital as president of the United States (we’ll see soon). If we begin to question the constant nature of sex/gender, then we would possibly be forced to replace the way society itself is structured. to keep men in power.
In America, sports culture is surely sacred, especially male sports culture. Sport becomes one of the places where we reassure ourselves about the constant nature of sex/gender and our justification of male dominance. We rarely think about how sports were created for typical male bodies to highlight typical male strengths. So while in many cases we recognize that the maximum number of women cannot compete with the maximum number of men, especially at elite levels, in sports such as soccer or sprinting, we continue to intentionally separate female and male athletes in sports. where women can compete and win legitimately, as opposed to men. Bowling is a clever example.
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 1: Team USA’s Simone BilesThe U. S. competes on the ground on the final day of women’s artistic gymnastics in all aspects of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena on Aug. 1. 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo via Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages)
The other day, I was looking for men’s ground workouts at the Olympics and I was wondering why the ground workouts were separated by gfinisher. Most of the differences between the two sports are artificial: women use music and get an artistic score, while men are expected to show more strength. Couldn’t men use music and art?Simone Biles actually puts an end to the concept that women can’t perform spinning passes that require strength.
I think at the heart of many gender-segregated games is this worry that boys tease: “You lost to a girl!” The concept of men losing to women in gaming competitions is absolutely at odds with the gaming culture. So we do We are sure that this is not achieved by preventing women and men from competing, even in games in which typical male bodies do not confer many advantages.
For many people, the very concepts of transgender, non-binary, and intersex are new, and new things sometimes confuse or scare us, especially if they could alter the way we have understood and acted in the global world.
There are vital conversations we want to have about diversity of structures and participation in sports. Asking whether a body that has gone through male puberty might have unfair merit in certain sports, despite the use of female hormones, is an important part of those conversations.
However, more often than not, it turns out that behind these conversations there are genuine human beings, and not just summarized notions about the body, gender and sport. Imane Khelif has feelings, fears, aspirations, like all of us. Many other people on social media seem to have forgotten or made fun of him because they have depersonalized, dehumanized, and humiliated him.
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 1: Angela Carini of Team Italy reacts after leaving the Women’s Preliminary Round against Imane Khelif of Team Algeria in the first of 6 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Arena North in Paris on August 1st. 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
We can also pay attention to Angela Carini’s pain and stand in solidarity with her. We can’t decide what pain matters to us. We can and care that anyone suffers.
We would do a lot to advance discussions about sex and gender in the game if we tried to pay attention with compassion and openness before making judgments. Athletes aren’t just about fueling our viewing enjoyment and social media comments.
What to do about the diversity of bodies in the game is a complex question. I doubt there is an answer that satisfies everyone, but posting on social media out of ignorance, bias, and contempt is not the way to go.
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