I have read extensively over the past twenty four hours on the issue of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting.
They appear to have been badly mischaracterized. I believe they are not transgender athletes after all, as in they have not transitioned from male to female.
They are, like South African running star Caster Semenya, androgynous. They were born female but carry the XY chromosome and have higher levels of testosterone than normal females.
Androgynous are unusual in the world’s population. It’s estimated that 0.5 percent of all people have clinically identifiable sexual or reproductive variations.
But the reality is they have a tremendous advantage in sporting endeavour over normal women. Caster Semenya is no longer allowed to compete over her favoured distance of 800 metres after a ban from World Athletics. I maintain that is unfair because she was born that way.
Semenya has said that she was born with a vagina and internal undescended testes but that she has no uterus or fallopian tubes and does not menstruate. Her internal testes produce natural testosterone levels in the typical male range. That’s why she is a double Olympic champion.
With Khelif and Lin the situation is more complicated. On one hand they should be allowed to compete as women if they were born like Semenya. But on the other boxing is a contact sport where the aim is to inflict harm on the opponent. Authorities must balance a right to compete with athlete safety.
I would always favour safety.
NB: Khelif fights Angela Carini of Italy at 10.20pm New Zealand time tonight, August 1st.
Lin Yu-Ting is in the ring against Sitova Turdibekova of Uzbekistan at 1.30 am on Saturday August 3rd.
Peter Williams was a writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines. Peter blogs regularly on Peter’s Substack - where this article was sourced.
Androgynous are unusual in the world’s population. It’s estimated that 0.5 percent of all people have clinically identifiable sexual or reproductive variations.
But the reality is they have a tremendous advantage in sporting endeavour over normal women. Caster Semenya is no longer allowed to compete over her favoured distance of 800 metres after a ban from World Athletics. I maintain that is unfair because she was born that way.
Semenya has said that she was born with a vagina and internal undescended testes but that she has no uterus or fallopian tubes and does not menstruate. Her internal testes produce natural testosterone levels in the typical male range. That’s why she is a double Olympic champion.
With Khelif and Lin the situation is more complicated. On one hand they should be allowed to compete as women if they were born like Semenya. But on the other boxing is a contact sport where the aim is to inflict harm on the opponent. Authorities must balance a right to compete with athlete safety.
I would always favour safety.
NB: Khelif fights Angela Carini of Italy at 10.20pm New Zealand time tonight, August 1st.
Lin Yu-Ting is in the ring against Sitova Turdibekova of Uzbekistan at 1.30 am on Saturday August 3rd.
Peter Williams was a writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines. Peter blogs regularly on Peter’s Substack - where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
Why is boxing considered a "sport" when the objective is to physically destroy your opponent ?
There is so much concern about brain injuries in other contact sports, why is still allowed ?
Health and Safety laws in NZ should have closed down boxing years ago.
Then gender would not be an issue.
Lets cancel all sports where men excel and than gender wont be an issue.
Don't worry Mr Williams, you weren't too far off the mark.
Mr Khelif towered over Ms Carini, looked like a man and boxed like a man.
In the first few moments of the first round he landed a few blows to Ms Carini's face that absolutely rocked her.
Ms Carini walked away, abandoned the fight and and stood there weeping. Her Olympic dreams in her chosen sport wrecked by a man.
Ms Carini refused to acknowledge the Algerian any further, nor should she have.
And another female boxer had to face the same.
A dozen Chinese swimmers that had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs just a few weeks before the Olympics [how unusual] allowed to compete.
And a man convicted whilst an adult for raping a 12 year old girl allowed to compete in the beach volleyball.
Faster, higher stronger ? Forget that, just anything goes.
There is no such thing as an XY chromosome.
A very rare condition is having 3 sex chromosomes rather than then usual two - in this instance, two X's so you get a genotype of XXY. Most XXY individuals phenotypically present as men but a small number present as women. They are women in the sense that they have a uterus, ovaries, etc, but they have higher testosterone levels and concomitant upper body muscular development.
XXY women have an advantage over other women and should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics, but they are NOT men and never were - so they should not be compared with 'trans' women.
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