If We Can't Agree On the Basics, Then Perhaps the Olympics Should Come to an End

Have we had enough yet?  Have we had enough of  male-centered organizations dictating  to women what we are 'allowed' to discuss  an...

Have we had enough yet? 

Have we had enough of 

male-centered organizations dictating 

to women what we are 'allowed' to discuss 

and for how long?

 

Note: The feminist/womanist position around the Olympic boxing competition is not a discussion about "trans".  

Please see: DSD, chromosomes, violence against women and NOT testosterone. 

Please KNOW what is being debated rather than assuming that people are requiring a "performance of being feminine" or "being hateful".

• DSD
• Chromosomes 
• Violence Against Women

If you simply WANT to misunderstand, that's cool too. 

It is possible that in 2024, we have reached a point where a global agreement on fundamental aspects of world athletic competition is impossible to achieve.  

If we can't collectively agree that female human beings have a right to safety, dignity, and privacy leading up to and all the way through the games....then perhaps it is time for the Olympic games to cease.

 As women, we do not have to continue to allow things to move forward under the guise of "progress" when we aren't included in the "progress."

In the absence of respect, it is impossible to have healthy families,  relationships, communities, connections, networks, and even competitions. 

If the voices

If the privacy

If the dignity

If the safety 

of women is not 

respected then there is nothing. 

 When women lifted their voices to speak out against the silencing and disrespect, the usual slurs, threats, and vitriol were there to greet them.

Is this what the games are supposed to be about? 

Someone said something about the games bringing people together in 'unity.' 

Yes, unified sexism, misogyny, and violence against women. 

The Olympic games did a phenomenal job of bringing dedicated subscribers to such practices and beliefs together for two weeks.  

From Sex Matters.....Sport and DSDs

"Our rules allow men to punch women in the face. So men will continue to punch women in the face. Please stop talking about men punching women in the face because it's unfair on the men who are punching women in the face." https://t.co/aslLwjCt9u

— Progressive Misogyny (@JustMisogyny) August 1, 2024

 IBA reaffirms the position and removal of boxers from all events, aims to protect female boxers, and condemns both the International Olympic Committee and World Boxing for allowing ineligible athletes to compete

🚨UPDATE🚨

The International Boxing Association has released a SECOND statement reiterating that Lin and Khelif were "not eligible to compete within the female category" and condemning the Olympics for not protecting female boxers.

"The IBA will never support any boxing bouts… pic.twitter.com/ZcKdLUiOyi

— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) August 1, 2024

Women's Boxing has been a part of the Olympic Games since 2012 

 Algeria's Imane Khelif has just beat Italy's Angela Carini in the Olympic Women's 66kg Boxing Preliminaries.  

Carini forfeited the match in the first round.

Khelif was previously disqualified from a women's boxing championship for having "XY chromosomes."

Yesterday, the International Boxing Association released an eleventh hour statement which definitively established that Khelif was not eligible to compete in women's boxing. 

Khelif, along with Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting, had been previously disqualified from the 2023 Women's Boxing World Championship after it was determined they had an unfair advantage over female boxers.

And while supporters and national Olympic Committees claimed this was simply because the boxers had "naturally high testosterone," the IBA put this myth to bed and confirmed they had not conducted a testosterone level test on either one of them.

Instead, the IBA said that Khelif and Lin had been disqualified after a separate medical test was conducted which established they were not eligible to participate in women's boxing. 

Crucially, the IBA defines "woman" as "an individual with XX chromosomes." The "gender tests" they conduct on boxers do not measure their hormone levels, but determines whether they meet this definition of "woman" as per the IBA eligibility criteria. 

Khelif and Lin did not.

Yet despite this, the @iocmedia

 has allowed both to compete in women's boxing at Paris 2024. While some may believe the IOC conducted their own medical tests, this is untrue. The IOC ceased all sex-testing in 1999. And for the purposes of the Paris Olympics, the eligibility for women's boxing has been limited to whether an individual has legal documents stating they are female.

Reduxx will be clear for a final time: Khelif and Lin are NOT believed to be transgender. Instead, they are believed to be individuals impacted by a Difference of Sexual Development, a medical condition which results in the abnormal development of secondary sex characteristics.  

Individuals impacted by some DSDs, for example, may have XY chromosomes, but not develop a penis in utero. Thus, they are marked as "female" when they are born, and may go a substantial part of their lives without knowing they are biologically male. 

In the past, male athletes with DSDs have been actively sought out by national Olympic teams because they have a substantial advantage over females and can fly "under the radar" thanks to their "female" legal documentation.

But individuals with XY chromosomes, no matter their secondary sex characteristics or medical conditions, are still male. And they should not be competing against females.

@iocmedia was and has been aware of concerns surrounding Khelif and Lin's biological sex, yet has been allowing them to continue compete against females.

This is putting female athletes at serious risk. It is also crushing the dreams of female Olympians like Angela Carini, who earned their place in their sport.

Perhaps we need our own female Olympic games run by and for women. Something akin to the US WNBA. 

@JournalismSeen asks:

In our view there’s a set of essential questions that we haven’t heard at all

• what is sex testing
• what is supposedly wrong with it
• why was it dropped
• can it be re-started
• can the IOC settle this now with a cheek swab

IBA reaffirms the position and removal of boxers from all events, aims to protect female boxers, and condemns both the International Olympic Committee and World Boxing for allowing ineligible athletes to compete

A brave post by Nicola Adams this morning: 

Thank you,

All female human beings on this planet need support.  I thank you for taking the time to try to gather a bit of information, whether you agree or disagree.

We never know which day may be our day of need. 

Please continue to enhance your knowledge of:

DSD

Chromosomes 

Violence Against Women

Fellow frustrated women and girls, please keep in mind that many people grow much stronger after losing a battle. 

Update: 8/8/24

You can't make untruthful people tell the truth.

You can't force people, already determined to use ignorance and lies as a weapon, to tell the truth.

IF women are to continue competing in the Olympic games, well-funded ethnically, racially, and regionally diverse female leadership will be required.

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