Society is fukking over given how easy social media has allowed misinformation to proliferate so quickly.There are no transgender women boxing in ParisImane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting are the victims of malicious misinformation.
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There are no transgender women boxing in ParisPatrick Stumberg 6–7 minutes Boxing became arguably the Olympics’ most talked-about event today, though not for reasons most would prefer. Controversy erupted when Italian boxer Angela Carini quit after a single punch to the face from Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for failing a “gender test.” Prominent figures in the sport like Claressa Shields and Jamel Herring went off about the injustice of a “man” beating up a woman, with Sampson Lewkowicz going so far as to claim Khelif “had surgery” to transition. There’s just one problem: Khelif and Lin aren’t transgender. The only evidence of them not being cisgender women (assigned female at birth) comes from the IBA’s ruling and a Telegram post from president Umar Kremlev claiming Khelif’s and Lin’s test revealed XY chromosomes, but the IBA has never actually explained what that supposed “gender test” was. After previously claiming that Khelif’s testing revealed XY chromosomes, their most recent statement claims that “the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test.” As the International Olympic Committee points out in their statement: From the linked minutes: Further, all of Khelif’s official documentation marks her as female and Algeria does not allow individuals to change their official sex. The country’s legal code is, in fact, against any sort of LGBT expression at all, with homosexuality carrying a maximum sentence of two years in prison. There are also photos of her as a little girl out there, not to mention a well-documented life story of growing up female. So, to sum it up:
All available evidence points to these women being victims of bad actors and public figures who rushed to judgment without understanding the facts. Some of said actors have pivoted to hyping up the XY claim, asserting that Khelif is cisgender but possesses a DSD like androgen insensitivity syndrome or Swyer syndrome that gives her an “unfair” advantage, but there’s no meaningful evidence for that, either. There’s only one trans boxer at the Games: Filipino middleweight Hergie Bacyadan. Bacyadan is a trans man (assigned female at birth) who has not undergone any hormone therapy or surgical procedures, meaning he possessed no exogenous advantages over the women in his bracket. He lost in the round of 16 to top seed Li Quan. The abuse hurled towards Imane and Lin was unconscionable and they deserve apologies that they’re sadly unlikely to receive. |
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