The Gender Wars

I’ve not written on the gender wars happening across the world in different contexts because I’ve taken the time to form my opinion. If there’s anything I’ve understood over the years, it is that social media has made it very hard for people to speak honestly or step out of their respective echo chambers to parse through anything before declaring their opinion.

It’s more important to say the right-sounding things than say what you actually think. It’s more important to be aligned with the right-sounding people than do the research yourself and form your own conclusions. It’s more important to constantly acknowledge your identity and privilege, and frame a debate with you at the centre when it might have nothing to do with you at all. It’s a performance that discourages original thinking, and I’m tired of it.

I wondered if I should wade into the gender war currently happening over the Olympics. My view on the matter is likely to earn me labels such as TERF, Savarna Feminist, Racist, Bigot, and even Misogynist. It would be easier to not say anything at all or have these conversations only in real life and with people who I know won’t jump to such conclusions about me.

But then, speaking up for women’s rights has never been convenient in history. At this juncture, when women athletes are being bullied and silenced for expressing their valid concerns over the categorisation of their sport, I feel compelled to express my view. I came to this conclusion not only because of social media posts but also the lazy, willfully ignorant and dishonest journalism around the issue that I see around me.

A few days ago, wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from her final match because she weighed a mere 100 gms over 50 kg, her weight category. This made her overweight and ineligible to fight. This is a woman athlete who had fought so hard to get there, and it breaks my heart that she cannot step into the ring over just 100 gms. But the rules are clear. She had to step aside.

50.00 kg is the rule for her category, and she did not qualify. The appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is for the silver medal, not whether she can fight the final or not over the 100 gms. In other words, 50.00 kg is 50.00 kg.

This is something that most people will understand, even if they fully support Vinesh and her achievements. Discussing the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) rules for another category — the primary category in most sports — though, is a lot tougher. The sex category.

I will attempt to dissect this through a Q and A format for easier reading. These are facts that I’ve put together after reading about the issue extensively. I don’t pretend to be a subject matter expert on sport or biology, so if you’re one and I’m wrong about any of it, please let me know and I’m happy to make necessary corrections.

How does the IOC currently define ‘sex category’?

The controversy in the Paris Olympics is centered on Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, both of whom compete in the female category. To be absolutely clear, neither of these boxers is in the wrong according to the sex category rules of the International Olympic Commitee (IOC). The IOC accepts that someone is female and eligible to participate in women’s sports if their passport states that they’re female.

This means trans women (biological males who identify as women) and biological males with DSD (Disorders of Sexual Development or Differences in Sexual Development) can also qualify for the women’s sports category. The present IOC framework does not require such athletes to undergo any surgery or hormone regulation procedures. Basically, if you are female in your passport, you get to participate in women’s sports.

What is the conflict between the IOC and the IBA?

Different sporting bodies function as the governing body at the Olympics. For instance, the International Gymnastics Federation is the governing body for gymnastics at the Olympics.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) is one of the oldest boxing federations in the world, but it was suspended by the IOC in 2019 over charges of corruption. Following this, the IOC has directly overseen boxing events at the Olympics.

The IBA defines sex categories as XX and XY. This means that trans athletes or people with DSDs have to compete in their respective biological sex categories even if they identify as another gender. Thus, there is a difference in the eligibility criteria of the IOC and the IBA.

The IBA conducted two eligibility tests on Imane and Lin, one in 2022 and another in 2023, to confirm their eligibility. They said the tests became necessary over complaints that they had received. One test was done at a lab in Istanbul and another in a lab in New Delhi. Both the results were allegedly the same — the two athletes did not meet the eligibility criteria of the IBA. That is, they were not XX.

Following this, the two boxers were informed that they could not participate in boxing championships and that they could appeal to the CAS, an independent body, if they so wished. Lin chose not to appeal. Imane filed an appeal, but it was terminated at the CAS because she did not pay the cost of the proceedings while the IBA paid their share of the procedural costs.

How can we believe the IBA results when it’s a corrupt body?

Apart from the IBA’s discredited status as a corrupt body, there are also allegations in the air about how the sporting body targeted Imane only after she had defeated a Russian opponent.

Let us assume that the IBA indeed has vested interests in conducting such tests. In that case, the athletes could have gone to the CAS and appealed against the verdict. If they could not afford the procedural cost, it was still possible to conduct their own tests and clear up the issue.

Turns out, Imane’s team did do that. In an interview to Le Point, a French media house, her trainer spoke about how Imane had been devastated to learn that “she may not be a girl” in 2023 after they conducted their own tests and found out that she had a “problem with her chromosomes and hormones”. However, since Imane had been born a girl and raised a girl, they did not think she should consider herself as anything other than a girl.

Even now, the IOC can do a DNA swab to put a rest to this controversy, but it has not done so because only the passport matters for its eligibility criteria.

Why hasn’t the IBA released the results if they’re so sure?

Because it would be a violation of privacy of the athletes to release their medical results to the public without their consent. At the eve of the press conference by the IBA, the athletes reportedly sent them legal letters asking that the results are not revealed.

Please note that while the IBA has not officially revealed the results, it has repeatedly said that the athletes failed their eligibility criteria — which is XX and XY.

How can someone not know what their sex is? Shouldn’t we believe Imane over the IBA?

It is important to establish the difference between trans people and those with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD), also called Differences in Sexual Development.

A trans person is someone who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth according to their biological sex. They are biologically male or female, but they feel strongly that they do not identify with their birth identity.

A person with DSD was previously called an ‘Intersex’ person. Such individuals have a disorder that prevents their reproductive organs from developing the way they should. So, they might actually be male, but at birth, the absence of a penis may mean they’re thought of as female and raised as female. This is especially so in places where awareness about such conditions is low.

There are also cases where a baby is born with a mix of organs and their sex is decided according to which surgical modifications are feasible to do. However, this can lead to gender dysphoria later because the person may not identify with their assigned gender. If you’re interested in knowing more, please watch this interview with a developmental biologist.

‘Intersex’ is not a separate sex. It is a disorder.

So? Why do we need to fuss over who belongs to which category?

For this, we need to talk about whether we need sex categories in sport in the first place. I’ve seen many social media posts and arguments about how sex categories exist only because the male ego cannot take it when women beat them at a sport, how we’re all assuming that men are always stronger than women etc etc.

You only need to look at the records for the same sport in the different sex categories to understand what should be obvious. For example, in javelin, the men’s world record is 92.97 m. For women, it is 72.28 m. In men’s 100 m race, the world record is 9.58 seconds. For women, it is 10.49 seconds. In boxing, a male’s punch is 162% greater in power than a female’s. I could go on, but I trust you will do your research if you still have doubts.

Female athletes know this difference more than anyone else. The GOAT Serena Williams, one of the strongest female athletes we all know, is on record saying that men’s tennis and women’s tennis are completely two different sports because the men are a lot faster and hit a lot harder. She added that if she were ever to play against an elite male athlete like Andy Murray, she would lose in minutes. In other words, if women’s tennis did not exist as a separate category, Serena would not figure as a top ranked athlete in her sport.

We need to acknowledge the biological differences between male and female bodies, and not pretend that they don’t exist.

But Imane was defeated by nine female boxers before this! So, why can’t she compete in the women’s category?

A female athlete will not always lose against a male athlete. There are a lot of factors at play — skill, access to resources, diet, training and so on. Serena Williams will not lose every match she plays against a man. But as you get better and become an elite athlete, it is not a level playing ground between men and women. This is why, in the ‘90s, female athletes overwhelmingly voted in favour of DNA swabs (over 80%) but the IOC did away with it anyway.

If sex doesn’t matter, take a minute to wonder why we’re seeing all these controversies only in women’s sports. Why aren’t trans men (born female and identifying as a man) fighting to get into men’s sports? Why did Hergie Bacyadan, a Filipino trans man boxer, choose to fight in the women’s category? Why is non-binary athlete Raven Saunders fighting in the women’s category for shot put? Why is transgender and non-binary athlete Nikki Hiltz in the women’s race? They could have just as well participated in the men’s category if biology didn’t matter.

I’m incredulous that media houses that have done positive stories on policies like menstrual leave in the corporate world where most of us just sit on our butts, are now pretending biology really doesn’t matter when sport is so much about the body.

But don’t all athletes have some biological advantage or the other? For instance, Michael Phelps!

I’m so tired of this argument. Obviously, every athlete who has reached the Olympics is going to have some biological advantage or the other. As someone who is only 4’11, and has never been any good at any sport, I’m fully appreciative of this fact.

But, are these advantages a category? Usain Bolt is 195 cm and that is a great advantage to have when you’re running races. But if there was a category for those under 170 cm and those above 170 cm, Usain Bolt cannot ‘self identify’ as being less than 170 cm and run in those races.

Phelps has genetic advantages, too. But there is no category for wingspan, type of ankles, production of lactic acid etc. It is not possible to have categories for every kind of biological advantage that exists.

But when a sporting body has established certain categories, it has to come up with clear eligibility criteria for those categories. For example, there is a weight category for wrestling and boxing. Vinesh Phogat was in the 50 kg category for wrestling. She was disqualified because she was overweight by a 100 gms. She could not just “self identify” as being 50.00 kg when she was 50.1 kg.

If sex matters in racing, it matters even more in combat sports like boxing and wrestling where there is a risk to the life of the athlete.

Aren’t these accusations about race and Euro-centric ideas about what a woman should look like?

It may be true that non-white female athletes are subjected to far more scrutiny than white female athletes. But, it is disingenuous to make the current controversy about race without adequately examining the facts, and making it out to seem like anyone who is raising concerns is a sell-out to their colonisers.

The case of Caster Semenya is often mentioned in these debates. Caster Semenya is an XY athlete who has internal testicles and produces testosterone in the male range. She has said so herself. She says she is a “different kind of woman” and that she embraces these differences. She has two children with her wife, born through artificial insemination. While this is Caster’s chosen gender, social and cultural identity, it does not change the fact that biologically, she is male, with a DSD known as 5-ARD that gives her all the advantages of a male physiology.

So, no, this isn’t the same as racist attacks on Michelle Obama or Serena Williams. It’s not sympathy for “white girl tears”.

So, should people with DSD be banned from competing?

There are a lot of sane people who have been discussing this issue, and yet, it’s made to seem like those of us who have concerns are all Andrew Tate. One solution is to do DNA cheek swabs well before an athlete reaches international levels and is subjected to such scrutiny and humiliation. If an athlete participating in women’s sports turns out to be XY, further tests can be done to see if they have an unfair biological advantage (as in the case of those with 5-ARD). There is at least one documented case of a woman with 46, XY who went through female puberty and even had a daughter.

We do not know which specific DSD Imane and Lin have because further tests haven’t been done. From their physiology, it is speculated that they have 5-ARD. If that is true, they do have an unfair biological advantage according to sex categorisation in sport. The IOC cannot wish this away. When everything, from the costumes to the shoes worn by the athletes, is scrutinised so thoroughly by sporting bodies, it is mind-boggling that the fundamental categorisation in sport is left to ‘self id’.

To be clear, nobody has suggested that people with DSD or trans athletes should not be in sport. People have only said that they should participate according to their sex category. There is no controversy at all over the trans man boxer who competed in the women’s category, for example.

Another solution is to have women’s sports and an open category where anyone can compete. Yet another solution is to have a separate category for those with DSD or trans athletes but there simply aren’t enough of them across sports.

Acknowledging that differences exist isn’t the same as discrimination. We can empathise with Imane and Lin while being cognizant of the facts at hand. Most of all, we are not going to get anywhere by pretending ignorance and saying only what we think we should say. Women athletes fight hard to get where they are. Their voice matters. Stop mocking them for expressing their concerns. Stop framing the debate as something it’s not. Stop cancelling people for expressing their views. Stop labelling everyone who disagrees on the issue.

Feminism is never comfortable.