This case really is a tough one. I have a story that may shed some light. When my daughter was 2, her babysitter had a friend with another 2-year old. The girl was born with both male and female genitalia. The parents had to decide on the spot at birth which way to go. Either choice meant a number of surgeries over years. They chose to have a daughter. I saw her again as a teenager and although still female, she had tiny hips and huge broad shoulders. Had she ever decided to box, I’m sure she would pummel the other girls. I have no idea about her chromosomes.For the sake of argument, I’m guessing XY. Where do you draw the line? It’s easy to say no to Leah Thomas, conscious decision way after puberty. I totally oppose gender ideology.Put me in the Elon camp on that one. But Imane Khalif? I’m going back and forth. I see both sides. Based on chromosomes, the answer is no. But she has been raised as a life long female. So gender ideology doesn’t come in to play. I don’t know.
Exactly. I agree with you that this is a genuine edge case and rightly confusing. I disagree with Colin Wright, who worries that these kind of outlier cases are a gateway for trans activists and I feel he therefore tries to shoehorn such cases into a clean binary. Yes, trans activists are trying to use this as a gateway. But there's no reason the rest of us should suddenly become confused about trans athletes simply because this case is more nuanced. We can walk and chew gum here. I oppose trans athletes in women's sports, and while Khelif is arguably trans in the sense that this is reportedly someone with XY chromosomes who identifies as a female, this case differs in two ways. First, we don't know exactly what Khelif's situation is yet. Second, Khelif did not grow up as a boy and then choose to identify as a girl. My assessment is that Khelif is acting in good faith. I therefore have much more sympathy than I initially did. But if Khelif is XY then we either devise a new system that attempts to achieve fairness for all variations or we fit Khelif into the current system. If the latter, Khelif is free to fight with the guys. But what we shouldn't do is make an exception here and there when individual cases are fuzzier than others. That is inconsistently fair to everyone and consistency is the bedrock of fairness.
This case is definitely a sticky wicket. I originally responded to this on your recent post thinking that this was similar to the situation involving the male swimmer Leah Chase in the United States. But I want to keep an open mind. Specifically, I don’t want to see women beaten up or outperformed by biological men in women’s sports.
Agreed. I find the idea of men competing in women's sports, especially combat sports, utterly outrageous. But precisely because it outrages me, I try to keep my fingers on the pulse of my own humanity and maintain sympathy for both sides whenever appropriate. That doesn't change what I think about biological men competing in women's sports. But this case does seem to be unique. The IOC has a responsibility to provide clarity ASAP.
This case really is a tough one. I have a story that may shed some light. When my daughter was 2, her babysitter had a friend with another 2-year old. The girl was born with both male and female genitalia. The parents had to decide on the spot at birth which way to go. Either choice meant a number of surgeries over years. They chose to have a daughter. I saw her again as a teenager and although still female, she had tiny hips and huge broad shoulders. Had she ever decided to box, I’m sure she would pummel the other girls. I have no idea about her chromosomes.For the sake of argument, I’m guessing XY. Where do you draw the line? It’s easy to say no to Leah Thomas, conscious decision way after puberty. I totally oppose gender ideology.Put me in the Elon camp on that one. But Imane Khalif? I’m going back and forth. I see both sides. Based on chromosomes, the answer is no. But she has been raised as a life long female. So gender ideology doesn’t come in to play. I don’t know.
Exactly. I agree with you that this is a genuine edge case and rightly confusing. I disagree with Colin Wright, who worries that these kind of outlier cases are a gateway for trans activists and I feel he therefore tries to shoehorn such cases into a clean binary. Yes, trans activists are trying to use this as a gateway. But there's no reason the rest of us should suddenly become confused about trans athletes simply because this case is more nuanced. We can walk and chew gum here. I oppose trans athletes in women's sports, and while Khelif is arguably trans in the sense that this is reportedly someone with XY chromosomes who identifies as a female, this case differs in two ways. First, we don't know exactly what Khelif's situation is yet. Second, Khelif did not grow up as a boy and then choose to identify as a girl. My assessment is that Khelif is acting in good faith. I therefore have much more sympathy than I initially did. But if Khelif is XY then we either devise a new system that attempts to achieve fairness for all variations or we fit Khelif into the current system. If the latter, Khelif is free to fight with the guys. But what we shouldn't do is make an exception here and there when individual cases are fuzzier than others. That is inconsistently fair to everyone and consistency is the bedrock of fairness.
This case is definitely a sticky wicket. I originally responded to this on your recent post thinking that this was similar to the situation involving the male swimmer Leah Chase in the United States. But I want to keep an open mind. Specifically, I don’t want to see women beaten up or outperformed by biological men in women’s sports.
Agreed. I find the idea of men competing in women's sports, especially combat sports, utterly outrageous. But precisely because it outrages me, I try to keep my fingers on the pulse of my own humanity and maintain sympathy for both sides whenever appropriate. That doesn't change what I think about biological men competing in women's sports. But this case does seem to be unique. The IOC has a responsibility to provide clarity ASAP.
Every time Bobby Witt Jr. hits another home run, I think of you.
I know it’s weird.