#carini

No-one can have missed the absolute scenes on social media, both before and after the boxing match between Imane Khelife and Angela Carini, from which Carini withdrew after just 46 seconds, having received a blow to the face.

Social media had already been abuzz with unfounded claims that Khelife was a man, largely based on her athletic (and to Westerners, “masculine”) body type. (The same rumours had also been spread about Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting; also a woman, assigned female at birth, who got into boxing to protect her mother from domestic violence.) From this explosion of misinformation came increasingly wild claims from all the usual suspects: that she was trans (in spite of coming from a Muslim country where transitioning isn’t allowed); that she had “self-identified” as a woman in order to win (again, not possible in Algeria) plus some quite ghoulish speculation about her sex organs, her medical history and the type of puberty she might have undergone.

But here’s the thing.

Khelife is not trans. There is one trans boxer at the Olympics, a trans man called Hergie Bacyadan, who for some reason has gone almost unnoticed in this desperate attempt to prove a conspiracy that just isn’t happening. Imane Khelife was assigned female at birth, has a passport confirming it, and has spent her life as a woman, fighting against her country’s patriarchal ideas of what women are supposed to do. Not only this, but she is an ambassador for women and girls, who originally took up boxing to protect herself from those who disapproved of her interest in sports.

She was disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships because (according to a Russian source that becomes less and less trustworthy the more you look into it) tests apparently showed some kind of unspecified anomaly, which may have been either elevated testosterone (quite possible in a woman) or the presence of XY chromosomes, once more altogether possible for a cis woman.

Nor does her condition (if she even has one) mean she is automatically likely to win against her opponents. In 2020, she made it to the quarter-finals of the Olympics, where she was defeated by Kellie Harrington, and she has been boxing on the international circuit for years without any of her wins or defeats gaining much attention.

Until now.

But her fight against Angela Carini on Thursday made her a magnet for some truly disgusting hate, largely, it seems, from the kind of men who enjoy threatening women, whatever the reason or excuse. In fact, there were distinct parallels with this and the recent anti-Muslim riots in Southport after the murderer of three little girls was falsely rumoured by agents of the far-right to be a Muslim immigrant.

Let’s be clear. Even if the attacker had been a Muslim immigrant, this violence would have been completely unacceptable. But the mob just wanted the opportunity to scapegoat and attack a community, in exactly the same way that the people attacking, threatening and objectifying Imane Khelife wanted the chance to attack a woman for not conforming to their idea of what a woman should be like.

In this context, it’s hard to see the rage and violence levelled against her for this victory as anything other than misogynistic - and racist.

It’s also hard to understand why in a sport like boxing – where the whole point is to hit your opponent – a person should be criticized for following the rules of the sport. It’s almost as if excellence is allowed in men’s sports, but in women’s sports, it’s automatically viewed as suspicious. And Imane Khelife isn’t the only athlete of colour accused of “being a man” because she defeated a white woman. Serena Williams has spent her career fending off accusations that she “was born a man” both because of her muscular physique and her excellence in her field. Caster Semenya, who has naturally elevated levels of testosterone, has been likewise demonized. It’s almost as if the people driving this toxic narrative believe that only men can excel in sport.   

And as for the argument that claims that elevated natural testosterone levels in a woman is “an unfair advantage,” don’t all elite athletes have some kind of physical advantage? Do we dismiss basketball players for being unusually tall, or weight-lifters for being unusually muscular, or runners for being lean and light? Why do we celebrate Michael Phelps for his genetic advantage, but penalize Caster Semenya for hers? Women have fought so very hard for the chance to participate in sports that were once seen as the sole province of men. Now, when they dare to excel in them, they are accused of secretly being men, or of not being “proper women.”

This isn’t any kind of feminism I recognize. The feminism I believe in is about breaking down barriers, not setting them. I personally dislike boxing (both for men and for women), but I respect any individual’s choice to compete. And attacking a woman boxer for winning a boxing match is as misogynistic as claiming to “defend” her opponent by painting her as a victim. Both athletes chose to compete. Both accepted the risks. Both have had their Olympic moment ruined by people who don’t care about sports, or the facts, or even women. This isn’t feminism. This is the worst and most patronizing kind of prejudice, and it actively hurts women – all women, but especially women of colour and those who do not conform to traditional ideas of what a woman should look like, what sports she should enjoy, or how she should behave.

Women fought for years for the right to make their own choices, to have their own identities outside of the stereotypes set by the patriarchy. Questioning those choices - those identities - isn’t progress.

 Supporting women doesn’t mean protecting them from themselves.

I'm calling her a bitch cause she singlehandedly started a global witch hunt against a poc? I'm calling her a bitch cause she called the fascist pm who DID say all the transphobic misogynist things (and who RAN on them) her mother? I'm calling her a bitch cause she's a cop? I'm calling her a crybaby not because she got out of the fight which she has every right to do, but because the veiled comments she said and the way it was handled was fuel for the entire shit storm we saw. I'm calling her a bitch for acting in a way far right SALVINI would endorce.

She didn't even apologise for the entire shit storm she caused. She paid lip service, but an apology for the witch hunt you instigated? A personal apology to the actual person she hurt instead of stuff to the media? It isn't enough, she just covered her own ass. She should know better. She should've acted better. It doesn't take a genius to see what effects her actions would cause.

I called her a crybaby cause I was really fucking mad.

I'm calling her a crybaby for using her white woman tears to HURT a poc woman. I don't understand why you felt the need to come to her defense? I'm a nobody on the Internet, if I see her down the street I'll call her a bitch to her face but Italys a big country.

Also.. her safety? Bitch her safety? It's the Olympics, a televised event, a regulated sport. There's regulations, rules.. She got scared and quit, that's alright, but to act as if she was on the floor with a rabid dog (or a Dangerous Man, which is what the words you're using imply) is straight up false, and I want you to analyse your biases the same way you asked me to analyse mine. Why did you feel the need to rescue her, after all the support and media attention she got? Why were you so quick to excuse her, say "ohhh no she didn't mean it, she said sorry, seeee" when she didn't even "properly" apologise at all. Why were you so quick to take the responsibility off of a woman? It's giving infantilisation, when no, she's 25. She's older than me. She's in the public eye. She shakes hands with fascists publically and gives herself deniability by letting the others say the quiet part out loud.

Also I have the right to make fun of an athlete representing my country pulling out in the most pathetic way possible, causing a media shit storm and acting as if she's not a fucking BOXER. Who signed up to get beat up by the best punchers in the world. And. Most Importantly, WHO GOT A HUNDRED THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS FROM THE TRANSPHOBIC ORG AFTER THE FACT. She PROFITED. off of this. As if she'd won gold, if this isn't a spit in the face to female boxing I don't know what is.

"We're incapable of reporting the news with any more accuracy than JK Rowling glancing at her twitter feed. Also the death threats Khelif will DEFINITELY be receiving in part due to our laughably stupid mistake we will not help her with at all." fixed it for ya

fingers crossed she, or the algerian government maybe, decides to take the low road and sues the crap out of all these dipshits for whatever the largest number is their calculator can display.