The Olympics, rather predictably, have become ground zero for protecting women in sports — and, for once, it has nothing to do with a transgender controversy.
Instead, it has everything to do with a three-letter acronym, DSD — or Differences of Sexual Development. As the Cleveland Clinic noted on its webpage, “Disorders of sexual development are conditions where a person’s reproductive organs and genitals are ‘mismatched’ at birth. Examples include male chromosomes (XY) and genitalia that appears female (vulva) or female chromosomes (XX) and genitalia that appears male (penis). Some people with DSDs have characteristics of both sexes.”
This is apparently why Algerian women’s boxer Imane Khelif was disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association world championships in India. Among other things, as Reuters noted: “Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete. That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.”
This advantage manifests itself in women with DSD. “In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue,” Reuters noted.
Yet, the IOC stood behind Khelif and another woman with the syndrome who was disqualified by the IBA from the world championships, saying in a statement that they “were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision” and that “[t]he current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure — especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”
Just so it’s clear what we’re talking about, here is a look at the punch that basically finished Angela Carini, Khelif’s opponent:
The Olympics allowed a biological man, Imane Khelif, to fight as a woman despite his XY chromosomes. The end result?
“I have never been hit so hard in my life.”
Italian Olympian Angela Carini lasted 46 seconds before quitting due to how painful it was. It’s just shameful that… pic.twitter.com/OWhKggM7qe
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 1, 2024
ESPN’s Pat McAfee thinks this defense is a load of rubbish.
Should Imane Khelif be allowed to compete against women?
In a segment on his show after Khelif beat an Italian athlete in 46 seconds — who later said, through tears, that Khelif punched harder than anyone she’d faced in her life and that she feared for her safety — McAfee said that while he was “empathetic” to the situation of those in competition when their “soul does not match [their] physical body,” the point of women’s sports is about fair competition, not inclusion.
“There should be some sort of conversation there, especially at very, very high levels, because whenever you’re talking about Olympics and dreams and chasing — that girl bawling her eyes out from Italy … her entire life was committed, then she gets into a fight with somebody who physically is going to be more capable,” he said during the segment, using swimming times to illustrate the point.
And it’s not just swimming.
“There’s women’s basketball. There’s a women’s golf tee, women’s volleyball, the net is a little bit lower — these are things that have just been happening since the beginning of sports.
“And all of a sudden, now, the conversation has turned,” he continued. “Like, there is no difference.
“It’s like, there is, especially at a very high level — and I just hope that the people who are much smarter than us can kind of sort through that.
“Because, once again — a lot of empathy, want you to live your absolute best life — but I have a daughter who is 15 months old … and if she works her entire life to get to a massive platform, to the biggest competition of all time, and then all of a sudden she has to take on” someone like Khelif, he said, “that is unfair.”
We’re all very confused by what’s going on in Women’s Boxing..
We hope that the people who are much smarter than us can figure this out #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/INz9O3Q7Zu
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 1, 2024
Of course, this is why people don’t express feelings like McAfee does normally, because this is the polite line the left takes:
She’s a woman, biologically and identifies as one. Hope this helps, you brain dead Neanderthal
— Rich (@richjmadrid) August 1, 2024
Never mind that Reuters admitted, in its explainer, that those who have DSD have an innate advantage by having undergone male puberty and having naturally higher testosterone levels. That’s the polite rainbow-flag-for-June explanation for this, and don’t dare say anything different.
This is not about inclusion, or even fairness. At a bedrock level, it’s about safety. If the IOC can’t protect women in boxing because silence has become a virtue, shame on them.
