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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   32894 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024

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We don’t actually know she’s intersex. We know the IBA excluded her on gender grounds on one occasion, they won’t specify why. The IOC claims she isn’t intersex.

The IOC claims she isn’t intersex.

No, that's the infuriating part. The IOC never clearly stated that they believe Khelif isn't intersex. (When an official accidentally said “this isn't a case of a DSD” the IOC published a rectification on Twitter stating that the official had meant “transgender” instead, tacitly admitting it might very well be a case of a DSD.)

The IOC intentionally abolished sex tests, because they worked too well: they identified some AFAB XY athletes, and the IOC didn't want to be the bad guy that has to tell male “women” with 5-ARD that their bodies are not female enough to be eligible for women's sports.

If the IOC had any integrity, they would say clearly: “We decided to include intersex males in the women's sports competition, so whether the IBA's assessment that Khelif is an intersex male is correct, is irrelevant.”

But they don't do that. They vaguely imply that the IBA is wrong, refuse to do any testing on their own, and let people take their sides in the culture war. It's infuriating cowardice. The IOC needs to decide whether or not XY-males with 5-ARD are allowed to compete. If so, they should say clearly that they don't care if Khelif is biologically male. If not, they should propose meaningful measures to keep males like Khelif out.

Regardless of how evasive IOC is being, I'm not inclined to assign IBA enough trust to move the needle from the zero hypothesis in this case. Not when their Russian pro-Russian CEO has every reason to be pissed that Russia isn't allowed to compete in the Olympics and every reason to stoke Olympic trans athlete controversies.

You don't find it strange that the IBA would stake its reputation on a claim that, if false, could be easily disproven with a simple cheek swab and PCR test? Don't you find it strange that neither the IOC nor either of the accused athletes have chosen to disclose any details on their medical condition?

And even if you believe that the IBA wanted to throw shade regardless of the truth (which is plausible), don't you agree that they'd be more likely to do that if they had actual proof? (Which is definitely not impossible; intersex athletes have been outed by sex tests many times, that's why the IOC stopped sex testing in the first place.) If so, you should agree that by Bayes theorem, that the fact that they have raised the issue increases the probability that the athletes are male.

Don't you find it strange that neither the IOC nor either of the accused athletes have chosen to disclose any details on their medical condition?

IIRC they also either didn't appeal or withdrew their appeals after the original IBA ruling. Possibly because going further would have made the matter clear, as with Caster Semenya.

The IOC didn't test him. The IBA did. They are trying very hard to not get sued for revealing sensitive medical information.

Neither of the XY competitors even pretend to live as women.

Neither of the XY competitors even pretend to live as women.

Important if true, but warrants at least a link. (That unambiguously states this, not just kinda-sorta suggests it if you squint right.) As this stands I'm skeptical.

https://twitter.com/Glinner/status/1820585888734203937

This looks like a perfectly reasonable set of PT gear for a woman to wear, though. It's not, by western norms, very feminine, but Imane Khelif is butch and Algeria probably has very different norms compared to the west.

Neither of the XY competitors even pretend to live as women.

Care to provide evidence they live as men?

Neither of the XY competitors even pretend to live as women.

What do you base this on?

Neither of the XY competitors even pretend to live as women.

Oh, that changes things. I could have sworn I'd read they live as women.

Edit: do you have a source? I went googling and could not check this (some sources say 'they identify as women' but I guess there's a further question of how they 'live').

Edit: do you have a source?

https://instagram.com/boxing_ting

https://instagram.com/imane_khelif_10

I mean, what does it mean to „live as a woman“ in current year? Surely there are some butch lesbians having the same style. But this is very male-presenting.

Yeah but that's hardly unusual for womens' sports. The elite female athletes I've met have generally trended towards butchness, and that's been the trend forever. Look at the drama with the WNBA & Caitlin Clark with a tacit theme of 'the traditionally black & lesbian-dominated WNBA don't like that they've suddenly become palatable due to the success of a white woman'.

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