16/11/2024
The horrible and interwined history of transphobia and racism in sport and politics is analyised by LGBTQIA+ magazine Out this month. The magazine's Mey Rude reports that "A cisgender boxer from Algeria is coming under fire from hateful right wingers for competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics after previously failing a "gender eligibility test" from a disgraced boxing association. Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer who was born female, raised as a girl, and has lived and identified as nothing other than a cis woman for her entire life, has come under attack from trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFS) and right wingers for competing in this year's Paris Olympics. Perhaps the most famous example of a female athlete's gender and sex being questioned is Caster Semenya, a cisgender woman who won two Olympic gold medals in the 800 meters track event. Semenya was made to undergo sex testing after her World Championships victory in 2009. She was cleared to compete the following year. The tests reportedly showed that she has no womb or ovaries and has higher levels of testosterone than average. While male athletes like swimmer Michael Phelps, who has double-jointed ankles, a disproportionately large wingspan, and produces less lactic acid than a normal male, and basketball player Victor Wembanyama, who is 7'4" tall and has an eight foot wingspan, are celebrated for having genetic advantages in sports, Semenya was punished. Serena Williams, regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, has long had to deal with racists and critics calling her a man. "People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I'm strong," she told Harper's Bazaar in a 2018 interview. "I was different to Venus: She was thin and tall and beautiful, and I am strong and muscular — and beautiful, but, you know, it was just totally different." Even Black women who aren't athletes have to deal with this mixture of transphobia and anti-Black racism. Former First Lady Michelle Obama also faced conspiracy theories that she was a man or a transgender woman for her entire time in the public spotlight despite there being no basis for the theories. Now, the pattern is continuing as Khelif is being called biologically male, a trans woman, and a man all with no evidence". To read more analysis on the subject and to gain evidence to demolish transphobes, visit Out.com. https://www.out.com/gay-athletes/imane-khelif-olympics-2024-transpobia
