Bottom Line

The only purported evidence for the claim that Khelif is trans comes from an undisclosed test performed by an allegedly corrupt sports governing body that may have shown she has a DSD condition. The IOC has said Khelif meets its requirements for participation, with Adams, the IOC spokesman, specifically clarifying, “This is not a transgender issue.”

Because Khelif is not transgender, claims attempting to make her victory against Carini an issue about transgender rights or “woke” politics are without basis.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    The Snopes article conflates the unfounded claims that these athletes are transgender with the more serious claims that their testosterone levels are outside the standard female range, and then dismisses the latter based on evidence against the former. Your article does a much better job at distinguishing these claims and addresses each one thoughtfully and in detail.

    The sort of zero-information Twitter posters making this a “woke” issue one way or the other should be ignored. With that said, I think its valid to criticize the IOC for the lack of standards and testing which would exclude athletes with masculine levels of testosterone from women’s competitions. I also think that the IBA’s accusations are currently unsupported by any publicly-available evidence; respect for the athletes’ medical privacy would justify this in a normal situation, but the IBA is both untrustworthy and motivated to cause specifically this sort of controversy.

    The athletes caught in the middle may actually be biologically typical women, in which case the entire controversy is moot. I wonder if they will volunteer to be tested by some reliable third party in order to settle this issue. They aren’t obligated to, but I admit that if they don’t then I will be suspicious about their motives.

    • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      They already have been “tested” and passed.

      Interesting how you want to draw a hard line around something with extremely fuzzy borders, almost like you want to control the world instead of understand it…

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Are you saying that the IOC tested the testosterone levels of these athletes? That’s not something I have read anywhere else. Do you have a link?

        The hard line is between athletes who are allowed to compete in the women’s games and athletes who aren’t. There’s no possibility of fuzziness there.

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          “… no possibility of fuzziness there.”

          … and yet you ask ME to provide the proof. Just move along bigot. At least if you value your life.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        You did say

        She is, however, chromosomally male (DSD)

        which I think is not a conclusion that can be confidently reached given the available evidence.