[Text/Sarah Ditum, Translator/Observer.com Guo Han] This game looks like a man punching a woman. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is about 1.78 meters tall, only about 5 centimeters taller than Italian boxer Angela Carini. But in the women's 66kg boxing arena at the Paris Olympics, th

[Text/Sarah Dittum, Translation/Observer.com Guo Han]

This game looks like a man punching a woman. Algerian boxer imane khelif is about 1.78 meters tall, only about 5 centimeters taller than Italian boxer Angela Carini. But in the women's 66kg boxing arena at the Paris Olympics, the obvious gap in strength between them is heartbreaking. Khalif is tall and strong, and can punch farther and more powerfully. After taking two heavy blows, Carini gave up the fight and accepted the final result with tears.

html On August 1, in the round of 16 competition in the 66kg category at the Paris Olympics, Italian female boxer Angela Carini only resisted for 46 seconds before being defeated by Algerian transgender player Imane Khalif. Social Media

It looks like a man punching a woman because, according to the International Boxing Association, Khalif is not a woman. In 2023, Khalif was disqualified from the World Boxing Championships along with Taiwanese player Lin Yuting due to "failure to meet the qualification standards to participate in the women's competition." The decision was not based on testosterone levels but on "a separate, recognized test, the details of which are confidential."

A statement in Russian (the International Boxing Association was founded in Russia) was more direct: "Based on DNA test results, we found that some athletes tried to deceive colleagues and pretend to compete as women. The test results showed that they have XY chromosomes." Lin Yuting did not file a complaint , and Khalif decided to withdraw it after filing the complaint. Therefore, the AIBA's decision on both men is legally binding.

But the result is not binding on the Paris Olympics, where organizers withdrew recognition from AIBA earlier this year based on multiple concerns about jurisdiction. This means that the International Olympic Committee (ioc) has the right to apply its own gender classification rules at the Paris Olympics. International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said, "We should be wary of someone launching a 'witch hunt'... These are regular athletes who have participated in boxing competitions for many years. They are fully qualified to participate. The names shown on their passports Both genders are female."

If it were two passports (rather than two flesh-and-blood humans) having a boxing match, this gender classification would certainly be acceptable. In a program designed for female athletes, Khalif is clearly not a woman. Although the International Olympic Committee has always emphasized that this controversy has nothing to do with the controversy over transgender female athletes participating in sports competitions, it is obviously impossible to separate the two. The question of how gender is defined (by chromosomes, hormonal levels or legal markings on a passport?) is at the heart of the debate over gender inclusion.

Everything that happens in the Paris boxing ring is a refutation of the absurd statement that "gender has nothing to do with sports performance." For example, writers Rebecca Jordan-Young and Katrina Kakazis argued in a 2012 New York Times op-ed that "[gender] equity policies whose ultimate goal is to protect the women's game should be abandoned" 'Purity'" view. If inclusivity is a worthy goal, "then running competitions separately by gender is only one of many possible options, and in many cases it may not be the best option."

Besides, doesn’t the implementation of gender categories re-inculcate old and harmful stereotypes about “women being weak and vulnerable”? At least, that's what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) thinks. "Exclusion of trans women harms all women because it invites a kind of 'gender policing' in which any woman may face offensive testing or be accused of 'excessive behaviour,'" the organization declares in a fact sheet on the sport. Masculine', 'too good' at their sport and not worthy of being a 'real' woman".

Johanna Mellis, a professor of history at Ursinus College in the United States, even suggested in the Guardian that the classification of women's sports may have been "invented" by men "by reinforcing a form of sexism." The idea that cisgender girls and women are the 'weaker, slower sex' limits women's success and opportunities in sports."

At this point, we are not far from the rhetoric we often hear. For example, an article in an LGBTQ+ magazine stated that people should think about gender differences “the same way we think about Michael Phelps’ unusual wingspan.” Essentially, professional athletes are special cases whose physiques are beyond the level of ordinary people. Men who are legally recognized as women are another special case of biological variation. Guardian sports reporter and former Independent reporter Jonathan Liew once declared that if transgender women could dominate women's sports, "in some ways it would be an inspiring thing."

So far, chromosomal issues aside, Khalif has not been able to dominate international women's boxing. Despite having an XY chromosome, Khalif lost to Ireland's Kelly Harrington in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, who went on to win the gold medal. BBC Radio 5 boxing analyst Steve Bangs commented that Khalif "is not a boxer with overwhelming power" and has only experienced five stoppages so far. His subtext may be that if Kalini was good enough, he could have continued the fight and even defeated Khalif. Maybe so.

But the problems a genetically male athlete creates in women's sports stem not just from his success. Every xy athlete "accommodated" means an xx athlete is squeezed out. In sports that involve contact and collision, they can also injure the female athletes they compete with. According to women in sport, male athletes have an average of 40 to 50 percent greater upper body strength than female athletes of a similar age at any weight, and an average of 12 percent greater upper body strength. Kilogram of skeletal muscle mass.

A highly skilled female athlete may win against men, but she also faces significant risk of injury. Therefore, Cassini has the right to consider his own safety. She said after the game: "This may be the most exciting fight of my life, but at that moment, I also had to protect my life." Boxing is inherently dangerous, but agreeing to be punched by a woman is not the same as Agreeing to how dangerous it is to be punched by a male is a completely different matter.

This is the difference that those who advocate the abolition of gender categories in sports fail to acknowledge. Some, like Leaf, may accept it quietly but care little about the actual impact on women's participation in sports - perhaps because they believe women's sports are fundamentally unserious. ("Sometimes, we forget that there are more important things than sport," Leaf wrote in the Independent article, but he never made similar comments about men's sports.)

But for others , especially for women, and perhaps most of all for women who are not actively involved in sports, there is a sense of hope embedded in this denialism. They want to believe that women's physical inferiority compared to men is purely, or to a large extent, a social phenomenon. They acknowledge women's vulnerability in this area and understand that it's all about the body. But they believe it is women's bodies that contribute to this vulnerability and become politically anachronistic. They embraced the strategic fiction of “biological equality”—if not in the here and now, then perhaps in an inclusive “Jerusalem” in the future.

Of course, women's bodies are capable of far more than the male pundits who have historically dominated sporting events would like to believe: there's a long and strange tradition of claims that exercise causes women to shed their uteruses. If given fair access to training and competition (which is far from guaranteed), women can indeed be faster, stronger, and more aggressive.This is my personal experience. I started lifting weights in my late 30s, and by the time I was 40, I could still lift weights I thought would only be seen in cartoons. But I also understand that if a man were to lift the same weight, the effect would be much less effective. That’s why comparing myself to men doesn’t reflect my progress at all.

Sports that confuse gender only result in good female athletes being eliminated by mediocre male competitors: achievements based purely on brute force. This Olympic Games failed to protect the rights of female athletes. This is a tragedy for them, but it is also a tragedy for the entire Olympic Games. Because the International Olympic Committee has ignored the fairness and safety of women's sports, an event that was supposed to highlight the level of excellence has become a celebration of mediocrity. After decades of obfuscation and talk about gender and sport, it all became clear in a completely unnecessary meeting - between an obviously male fist and a female face.

(The original text was published on the British unherd review website on August 2. The original title: "This Olympics is not safe for women." the Olympics are not safe for women.)

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