After more than two weeks of rigorous competition among the most impressive athletes in the world, this year’s Olympics officially ended on Aug. 11. But for Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif, her gold medal wasn’t the only thing weighing heavy on her head. Instead, Khelif was forced to acknowledge her recent virality—caused not by her dignified talent, but her chromosomes.
Following Khelif’s first Olympic fight against Italian fighter Angela Carini, her gender identity came under scrutiny when reports revealed she previously failed a gender eligibility test at the Women’s World Boxing Championship. Despite never identifying as transgender or intersex, the controversy is rooted in the fact that Khelif has XY chromosomes.
Almost instantly, large public figureheads took to social media to disclose their unsolicited opinions on Khelif’s gender. Former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMENS SPORTS.”
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter franchise, repeatedly called Khelif a male on X and framed the match as a brutal beating of a woman.
Although Rowling’s claims are verifiably untrue, it succeeded in generating waves of similar sentiment online, posing a different question: what’s with the rise of transvestigating online?
For clarity, transvestigating can be defined as the desire to verify someone’s assigned gender at birth, with the likely intention to condemn their queerness. Khelif fell into the crosshairs of this dangerous phenomenon despite being born a woman in a country where transgender people are criminalized and tortured by their peers.
These “transvestigators” often prey on women, usually of color, by playing into racist stereotypes. This is far from the first time we’ve seen this, either.
During President Obama’s 2012 campaign, rumors pervaded the internet surrounding Michelle Obama’s alleged transgenderness. Bigots frequently pointed to her tall stature and broad shoulders as pseudo evidence.
To them, these claims aim to uncover the identities of perceived threats to traditional household structure and gender roles. In reality, transvestigators misunderstand sex and gender by creating damaging myths around both.
Myth number one: chromosomes are indefensible proof of someone’s sex and gender. For years, scientists have proven this to be untrue by pointing to the existence of intersex individuals. The term intersex refers to people born with physiological and sexual characteristics that don’t fit into the typical binary we’ve structured male and female around.
Khelif was born with female reproductive organs, despite having XY chromosomes and internal gonads. Her existence operates as proof that sex cannot be reduced to male or female. While critics point to her chromosomes as an indicator of her trans identity, they’re erasing intersex identities in the process.
On Aug. 9, Khelif brought forward a lawsuit against the prominent figures spreading misinformation about her gender, arguing her life could’ve been put in danger by such reckless accusations.
While society may not be on her side, let’s hope the judges are, for the sake of queer people everywhere.
