I remember being at the IUPI with my brother on orientation day when I saw the first news about Imane Khelif and Angela Carini’s fight. It was a (now-deleted) post on one of Molusco’s Instagram accounts, one that indicated that Imane Khelif was a trans woman who had unjustly won her fight against the Italian boxer. With a quick Google search, I was surprised to see just how quickly news had spread about this Olympic boxing match, as well as all the sudden comments about Khelif being a trans athlete. Sadly, much of it was hateful tirades under that initial post and others that followed.
Here’s another post that was shared by Molusco:
Even though the previous Instagram post tried to do some quick damage control and some comments explained the reality of the situation, quite a number of people still made snide remarks about Khelif’s appearance, all insinuating that she was born biologically male. However, let’s set the record straight: Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman. According to this article from USA Today, Khelif reportedly has DSD, or differences in sexual development, which NHS UK describes as “a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones, and reproductive organs, including genitals.” In short, a person with DSD can sexually develop differently than what is usually seen. In Khelif’s case, her more traditionally masculine features and build could be attributed to DSDs, especially regarding her hormonal levels and the presence of XY chromosomes.
However, many people perceived the Algerian boxer’s appearance and strength as evidence that she was a trans woman; one who took advantage of growing up male and is now using it to win fights post-transitioning, at that. It suddenly seemed like there were no shortage of hateful comments being made about Khelif, most notably on X. Figures with large platforms, such as JK Rowling, Donald Trump, Logan Paul, and even Elon Musk himself, spoke out against Khelif and threw support behind the other athlete. Each of them either retweeted posts criticizing the Algerian boxer, supporting Angela Carini (who has since apologized and stated that she would embrace Khelif upon meeting her again in her statement to Gazzeta dello Sport), or even made verbal transphobic statements about Khelif. One notable example would be New Zealander martial artist Israel Adesanya, who made a post saying, “Men should not be boxing women. Lol he couldn’t even finish her. Anyway, People > politics.” But, unlike most of the other public figures who gave their input on the situation, Adesanya retracted his statement against the Algerian boxer, accepting his mistake and even adding a small apology in the clip included in this post:
Even though things have certainly improved for Imane Khelif, who managed to secure the gold for Algeria—the country’s second in Olympic boxing—the situation seems far from over. Khelif has officially filed a lawsuit regarding the harassment and cyberbullying she faced since her original fight against Angela Carini. In it, figures like JK Rowling and Elon Musk are named for their contributions to the transphobic attacks Khelif has had to deal with, as well as the defamation and disinformation they spread.
This entire situation is an example of how so-called “Transvestigating” is harmful not only to transgender people, but to cisgender people as well. Imane Khelif, a cis woman, was subjected to such horrible treatment because people suspected her of being a trans woman who participated in women’s sports as a way to leap to the top of the rankings, all while hitting “real” women under the pretext of competition. Such rhetoric is very dangerous, as it paints a terrible picture of trans athletes’ intentions and instigates heavy scrutiny whenever a person does not meet the arbitrary standards of masculinity and femininity, regardless of whether or not they’re actually trans. In JK Rowling’s case, she (along with a decent chunk of the Internet’s users) jumped the gun and allowed her negative view of trans people as a whole to control her judgment to the detriment of one of the cis women she so ardently fights for.
Now, all that’s left to do is sit back and watch as the cyberbullying suit unfolds, and perhaps we’ll see hateful people reap what they sow.