‘Punch her head in!’ Why is the IOC allowing gendered violence?

Michael Cook
August 02, 2024 21 Reactions

This article was updated after Angela Carini fought Imane Khelife.

Thankfully, Kamala Harris staunchly opposes sexual violence against women, as, indeed, anyone with a scrap of decency should.

Just a few days ago, she said: “It is the responsibility of all of us — governments, international organizations, civil society, and individual citizens — to actively confront conflict-related sexual violence and to work to rid our world of this heinous crime and to do what is necessary to hold perpetrators accountable.”

Bravo! Who could disagree? Vice-President Harris voices the consensus of a sane world.

With the exception of the International Olympic Committee.

Yesterday, the IOC allowed Italy’s Angela Carini to fight Imane Khelife, an Algerian boxer who failed a gender eligibility test at the World Championships last year.

Carini lasted 46 seconds before she surrendered. Khelife may have broken her nose.

"I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this. After the second blow, and after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt extreme pain in my nose,” Carini said.

Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, was furious. “I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women's competitions,” she said. “It’s not about discriminating against anyone but to protect the right of athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”

Today (Friday) another boxer who also failed a gender test at the World Championships, Lin Yu-Ting, of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), will meet Uzbek Sitora Turdibekova.

While neither Khelife or Lin has openly identified as trans, they were both disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in March last year for having “XY chromosomes.” Critics have speculated that Khelif and Lin may have a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD) disorder, where the genitalia are atypical in relation to the chromosomes or gonads. Whatever the answer is, they punch like guys.

Boxing is ritualised violence. Its purpose is to punch opponents’ heads in, to lay them out flat on the matt. A loser can end up with broken bones, bleeding, concussed, or even dead.

But the IOC’s position is that male boxers can self-identify as women. "They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case," said IOC spokesman Mark Adams on Tuesday.

No one should be surprised that Carini collapsed after 46 seconds. The power of a male’s punch is 162 percent greater than a woman’s, according to research by the University of Utah. The least-powerful man in its experiments was still stronger than the most powerful woman.

 

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Mexican boxer Brianda Tamara went into the ring against Imane Khelif. She felt lucky to have survived. She wrote on X:

“When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth. Her blows hurt me a lot, I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized, [what was going on].”

According to a position paper by the Association of Ringside Physicians, transwomen (i.e. natal men) should not be allowed to fight women:

Transgender women retain significant anatomic differences and proven physiologic advantages over otherwise matched cisgender women, resulting in mismatched opponents. This increases the risk of serious injury in the cisgender women.

Adams, the IOC spokesman, explained that Khelife and Lin had competed for years against women — including at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. “I would just make the point that they were eligible by the rules of the federation, which was set in 2016 and which worked for Tokyo to compete as women, which is what they are, and we fully support that.”

Translation from IOC-speak: Nothing to see here, move on, please, move on. please. Women get their heads punched in all the time. Move on, please.

“Ridiculous,” tweeted tennis legend Martina Navratilova. “They might have the right (female) passports but they do not have the female bodies!!!”

The controversy over Khelif and Lin is also about politics. The IOC is distancing itself from the International Boxing Association because it is controlled from Moscow. In fact, there may not be any boxing at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 because of the dispute.

The IBA, which ran the Women’s World Boxing Championships, uses a genetic test to confirm sex; the IOC allows anyone to compete who has been approved by the local federation. According to the IOC’s 2023 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations, “athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity, provided they meet relevant eligibility criteria.”

Whether its apparatchiks are motivated by politics or gender ideology or both, the IOC is demonstrating criminal indifference to women boxers’ safety. If women end up brain-damaged or dead in the ring, the IOC will have blood on its hands.

“The physical abuse of women on an Olympic stage eliminates the integrity of all Olympic events and risks lifelong injury or even death for female athletes.,” says Marshi Smith, of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports. “This deceit cannot be allowed to continue.”

The Olympics is a magnificent spectacle. But blinded by gender ideology, the IOC seems determined to ruin it.

What do you think about women boxing with trans women?

Michael Cook is editor of Mercator

Image credit: cartoon by Brian Doyle

  

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  • Michael Cook
    commented 2024-08-04 14:16:59 +1000
    It is unfortunate that Imane Khelife has become a lightning rod in this controversy. She may have been treated unfairly. However, settling the matter definitely would involve a gross violation of her privacy.

    But the issue is not whether she is XX or XY. It is the IOC’s decision to allow gender self-ID in boxing. One can foresee that in the 2028 Olympics there will be a number of openly transwoman athletes competing in events meant only for XX competitors. My feeling is that most people oppose this. It might even destroy the Olympic Games. Time will tell. The IOC seems to be digging its heels in on self-ID.
  • Julian Cheslow
    commented 2024-08-04 12:10:56 +1000
    The organization claiming Iman failed a gender eligibility test haven’t given any details as to there claim. Said organization was also discredited for corruption. And the country she is from doesn’t recognize trans people.

    But y’all have decided she somehow must be a man based on this. She has lost matches before with other women so clearly she isn’t unbeatable. And it got to a point her dad had to respond.

    I don’t understand how people can attack her like this with no hard evidence. If you want to talk about women’s safety talk about the guy who committed sexual assault against a 12 year old girl who was allowed to compete.
  • Angela Shanahan
    commented 2024-08-04 10:17:49 +1000
    Should have read ’ intimidate’
  • Angela Shanahan
    commented 2024-08-04 10:15:35 +1000
    What rubbish. You are not male or female solely on your physical characteristics.Women are xx men are xy. Russian or Ruritanian, once the test confirms that you are either male or female. The boxer is XY. There are rare cases of males with an extra X chromosome, and a few children are born with indeterminate physical sex. This can usually be remedied surgically in infancy. There is really no such thing as ’ intersex’. There have been a few hard cases, where doctors have had to make a choice, but this is extremely rare. I have personal experience of a child who has never developed, but is XX female. There is a life long drug regime for such girls.
    What has happened recently is that the trans movement, which is fixated on outward bodily characteristics has tried to literally fool us, indeed intimate us all into thinking as Germaine Greer said, that you can lop off your bits and put on a dress and presto you are a woman. Take it from me who has every characteristic, chromosomes and all, has given birth to many children, she is right!
  • David Page
    commented 2024-08-04 02:31:09 +1000
    Anon is right. The Russian test is suspect.
  • Juan Llor Baños
    commented 2024-08-03 22:30:02 +1000
    Buenísimo artículo!!!
  • mrscracker
    Unless we are privy to this boxer’s medical and personal history it’s difficult to know what the facts really are.
    The simplest and fairest thing would be for the IOC to conduct its own DNA testing and make eligibility decisions accordingly for fairness and women’s safety. Period.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-03 21:44:00 +1000
    But she’s not trans, Angela, she’s a woman. Are you seriously suggesting people transition with the purpose of winning athletics?

    Michael, thank you for your thoughtful reply, though I would add an addendum – Hergie will compete against XY people once he begins sufficient HRT.

    Though I would like to ask you to revisit one of my earlier comments from a fellow female boxer who beat Imane in competition (one of nine women to do so, I believe). Surely if Imane had that much of a competitive advantage, that number would be 0, no?
  • Angela Shanahan
    commented 2024-08-03 14:58:42 +1000
    The whole thing is ridiculous. All trans people should either own up to their real biological sex, or be eliminated from all sporting competitions. Who cares if they are upset. I’d like to win the 1500 metres freestyle, but due to a very poor showing in the year 10 swimming carnival, I decided my hopes and ’ dreams should be directed on land only.
  • Michael Cook
    commented 2024-08-03 10:33:10 +1000
    to Anon Emouse — fair comment. I wasn’t aware of Hergie Bacyadan. However, in my defence, no one else noticed Hergie until the news about the other two erupted. We are an online magazine, not an online news agency. In any case, I don’t believe that Hergie’s case is analogous. Hergie is an XX person fighting other XX persons. I was warning of the danger of serious injury if an XY person with far more power fights an XX person.

    Admittedly, it is a bit rough on a possibly intersex person to be banned from some events because of genetics or elevated testosterone levels. But XX people’s safety is important, right?

    Nor is the boxers’ case the same as South African runner Caster Semenya’s. When Semenya wins, she breaks the tape first. When Khelif wins, she breaks noses and might kill someone.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-03 07:36:55 +1000
    Further, I noticed a distinct lack of commentary, discourse, and pearl clutching about Hergie Bacyadan, a trans-male boxer, competing in a boxing event in the Olympics against cis-gendered men. Even though, according to Michael Cook, that is the same “Gendered” violence as he (incorrectly) states in the article.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-03 06:52:44 +1000
    mr cracker,
    since you seem to want to misgender Imane, I shall do the same to you.

    Her disqualification from a Russian-backed testing agency three days after she beat a Russian competitor in the semi-finals of a 2023 tournament.
    The results of her test have not been made public, nor has the methodology that IBA uses.
    XY chromosome does not mean someone’s a man; people can have XY chromosomes and functional female genitalia.
    She qualified for the 2021 Olympics, and no one batted an eye.
    As a child, Imane grew up in poverty and sold scrap metal to pay for the bus fare to go to a boxing gym so that she could train.

    And again, this bears A LOT OF REPEATING – IT’S ILLEGAL TO BE TRANSGENDER IN ALGERIA. SHE HAS NEVER IDENTIFIED AS TRANS, MALE, OR INTERSEX.
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse,
    I don’t have the Algerian boxer’s private medical info, only what’s been shared about him in the media. One of my family members works as a specialist in a hospital dept. that treats infants born with ambiguous genitalia & related anomalies. In a modern hospital with those resources at hand a newborn’s correct gender can be revealed through DNA tests. I don’t know what resources were available where the boxer in question was born & what his childhood must have been like. I’d imagine things were hard if what we’ve heard is correct.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-03 00:49:11 +1000
    mrscracker,

    It is illegal to be transgender in Algeria. Were Khelife born a man competing against women now, she would be put in jail merely for her identity.

    Susan,

    I am disgusted by you and your homophobic attitudes. I’d remind you that God created “Adam and Eve” – which means God is okay with polyamory and bisexuality (after all, it wasn’t Adam OR Eve).
  • mrscracker
    I do have sympathy for this man. Imagine how difficult his life must have been? But the Olympics should use modern DNA testing to decide eligibility in women’s sports. Not passports, self identification, etc.
  • Susan Rohrbach
    commented 2024-08-02 22:46:33 +1000
    I am disgusted with transgender but this incident reveals the top of the slippery slope: women trying to intrude on men’s sports. Boxing is only an extreme example. But why do women need to be matched in funding for their sports, when they are just not as able? The while premise of title ix is derelict.

    And I wish we didn’t have to spend so much time in sports and bathrooms and ignore the elephant in the LGBT room that is same sex parenting. That is the real Olympic frankentube prize being reached for.

    And yes it is the business of natural parents when the tent includes Adam and Steve because if you’ve read frankentube new world, those are the couples who will be state paid to “adopt” the children grabbed from dissident natural parents.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-02 21:41:17 +1000
    Also, worth mentioning the story of Ilona Maher, bronze winning cisgendered women for the US Women’s Rugby team. Who was brought to tears over repeated accusations that she was secretly a man and was not “feminine enough” to be a woman.

    https://www.outsports.com/2024/8/1/24099006/ilona-maher-usa-rugby-olympics-medal-stereotypes-cry/
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-02 21:36:47 +1000
    “Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I thinks it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control. The fact that she has been beating by 9 females before says it all.”

    Women’s world boxing champion (2022) Amy Broadhurst on the Imane Khelif controversy (who beat Imane Khelif in the ring).
  • mrscracker
    It seems a running theme at the Olympics this year. I don’t understand why women athletes wouldn’t simply boycott any women’s event with men competing?
  • Quentin Neill
    followed this page 2024-08-02 05:46:12 +1000
  • Michael Cook
    published this page in The Latest 2024-07-31 17:39:19 +1000

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