Gender Policing in Sports - by Inès N'cib

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif recently made headlines after her match against the Italian Angela Carini during the Paris Olympics Games. After only 46 seconds of fighting, Carini forfeited, stating that the pain was too much for her.

Media outrage sparked not long after, with people claiming that the fight was unfair since Imane Khelif was not actually a woman. On August 1st a New York Post article decried a “Brutal, unfair Olympic beating tragic result of letting biological men compete in women’s sports.” That same day, the Daily Mail Online wrote on twitter “Female boxer QUITS Olympic bout against biologically male opponent and breaks down in floods of tears after brutal 46 seconds.”

In the span of a few hours, people started to frantically speculate. Is Imane Khelif really a woman? Should we allow her to participate in women’s events?

This is of course not an isolated occurrence. It’s easy to forget that the division of sport competitions between men and women implies the definition and control of the gender identity of the athletes.

Gender policing isn’t new. The fear of female athletes “faking” their gender has always been a major concern during international competitions. In the 1960s, standardised sex tests were introduced, where women had to show their genitals to doctors. In 1967, during the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, this practice was dubbed the “naked parade.” That year, the American Maren Sidler failed her sex test because the doctor considered her breasts weren’t big enough. With time, the sex tests evolved and aimed at determining chromosomal makeup and hormone levels.

Today we might hear of expressions such as ‘transpanic’ or ‘tranvestigate’ which apply when people start speculating about another person’s birth gender. This often is the case when female athletes are considered too good at their sports (because of course, if a woman is good at something, it must mean that she’s a man). This happened to many amazing athletes such as Sha’carri Richardson, Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Caster Semenya… Entire news articles are dedicated to figuring out their “true” gender.

It is worth noting that none of the women mentioned are white. Indeed, it is more often than not Black women who are accused of being too manly. The generally accepted definition of what is feminine sets white women as the norm. Therefore, women who deviate from that definition aren’t seen as real women.

Misogyny, racism, colourism and transphobia come together to hurt all women, policing their bodies and taking away their agency. The singer Ciara was a victim of such gender guessing. Under the suspicion that she was born a man, people scrutinised everything she did. Her clothes were deemed too androgynous, her features too masculine, her dance moves too aggressive.

Even today, sports organisations struggle to divide athletes between the man or woman label. The International Olympic Committee and the International Association of Athletics Federations adopted a testosterone level criteria. It is considered that a woman with a higher testosterone level has an unfair advantage over her peers.

This means that cisgender women can be barred from participating in women’s events. In 2021, such a thing happened to Francine Niyonsaba. She was prohibited from participating in the 800 metres race unless she underwent a treatment to reduce her testosterone levels.

The situation is even more dire for transgender – especially transgender women– athletes. Their participation in sport events is subject to strict restrictions. In many sports, it is required that they transitioned before puberty and never underwent the biological changes caused by testosterone, which is impossible in a lot of cases. For example, in most EU member states, the minimum age for sex reassignment surgery is 18.

For now, hormonal levels have been selected as the norm for dividing athletes between men and women events. However, we have to wonder if this choice is really adequate when it seems to hurt so many women and encourage racism and transphobia.

by Inès N'cib

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