Much of the Canadian public have been glued to the tube watching the Paris Olympics unfold and the unfolding events have provided great fodder for the keyboard warriors who infest the nation’s social media feeds. Canada has seen several national historic firsts transpire at these Olympics, including our first-ever hat trick gold thanks to 17-year-old Summer McIntosh—the first Canadian to ever win three Olympic gold medals at one Olympic Games with her triumphs in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and the 200m butterfly swimming events.
Unfortunately, controversy has overshadowed much of the joy.
At the forefront of the online angst has been Algerian woman boxer Inane Khelif—who has found herself the punching bag for anti-woke dog whistle-blowers and highlighted the increasingly difficult issue of who can be called a woman.
Human genetics is a messy business and does not always fall into the clear black and white worldview of the anti-woke crowd.
Ms. Khelif comes from one of the most conservative muslim countries in the world—a country where you can find yourself in prison for being in drag, outwardly LGBTQ+ or engaging in homosexual acts. Hardly the place one would anticipate “woke” policies of inclusion, diversity and personal gender freedoms muddying the waters. She is the “unfortunate” bearer of XY chromosomes. While this is not enough to make her “male,” and she was born recognized as female, raised her entire life as female, and has never been the recipient of gender changing therapies—that doesn’t matter to the rabid right. That she has lost numerous bouts throughout her career to other women also doesn’t matter. It is simply too great a opportunity to express rage to pass up.
Now to be fair, many reasonable people have a hardly time with the concept of a man changing gender and then going on to compete in women’s sports as a female after bearing the advantages of growing up in a male body and its physical attributes. But that is not the case with Ms. Khelif, who now finds herself the target of a massive outpouring of hate through no fault of her own.
International sports bodies have been trying to deal with the challenges inherent in trying to maintain a bi-cameral sports world when medical advancement has meant that people can now largely choose their gender. The current controversy is based on one such attempt by the International Boxing Association (IBA) to do so which barred Ms. Khelif and others on the basis of testing the Olympic committee characterizes as “so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it.” The IBA itself is current banned from the Olympics.
These issues are something that are not going to go away in a hurry and the world needs to come to some kind of consensus on how to approach these challenges that work. As the case of Ms. Khelif, it will not be easy.
In the meantime, we should all can the outrage and back off the Algerian boxer. Her moment on the top of the pedestal after a lifetime of hard effort has been tarnished enough.
The evidence is clear, Ms. Khelif is female and she does not deserve the vicious approbation with which she has been targeted. Hopefully, some of the rabid extremists that exist in her own country will not prove a danger to her health and wellbeing.
In the meantime, let’s all give thanks that we live in a country where Pride Week can take place in safety and inclusion—and let’s keep it that way.
