The AP Claims Racism and Slavery Are Why Americans Are Upset About Imane Khelif Boxing Women

Imane Khelif is an Algerian athlete who boxes women in the 2024 Olympics, despite having XY chromosomes most likely because of a condition known as DSD (differences in sex development) that causes naturally high testosterone.

Khelif made headlines in and out of sports last week after her Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out seconds into their bout after saying she "had never been hit so hard" in her "life."

Skeptics were naturally concerned about the safety of women who box Khelif, who has innate biological advantages over competitors with XX chromosomes.

But according to the Associated Press, which we are repeatedly told is a credible news organization, concerns about Khelif are rooted in – wait for it – racism.

"For female athletes of color, scrutiny around gender rules and identity is part of a long trend," says the headline. 

Here are just a few of the paragraphs that stood out:

– Female athletes of color have historically faced disproportionate scrutiny and discrimination when it comes to sex testing and false accusations that they are male or transgender, historians and anthropologists say.

– Mitra and other advocates and anthropologists note that international sporting federations don’t tend to promote an understanding of diversity in sex and gender identity and that gender tests have often targeted female athletes of color who don’t conform to typically Western, white ideals of femininity.

– Regardless of differences in sex or hormones, women of color — and Black women in particular — have often been subjected to stereotypes that portray them as more masculine.

– The definition of womanhood "is often reliant upon Westernized notions of white femininity or standards of white beauty," said Cheryl Cooky, professor of American studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Purdue University. If a female athlete doesn’t fit into those white, Westernized standards, "they’re subject to these questions and these accusations."

– Dehumanization and objectification stretches back to chattel slavery, when enslaved Black women were valued for auction based on their physical appearances and skills that were seen as more masculine or more feminine.

Now, you might wonder what any of that gibberish has to do with pushback against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) permitting Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan (who also has failed a gender test) to punch women in the face for sport. 

We also wondered that. The best we can tell is that AP writer Noreen Nasir tries to argue that there is only controversy around Khelif because she is a person of color. 

That is, of course, a lie.

The phrase "race baiting" is grossly overused. However, that precise phrase is the most accurate description of the AP article. The reference to slavery is a pathetic excuse to distract readers from forming their own conclusions about intersex athletes boxing women.

Race is not a focus here. Fairness in women's sports is. 

How can we say for certain? Simple. The most prominent people arguing against the inclusion of Khelif in women's sports – Donald Trump, Riley Gaines, Kelly Loeffler, Clay Travis and Megyn Kelly – were ardent critics of the NCAA allowing Lia Thomas, a biological male, to swim against women. Thomas, who is trans and does not have DSD, is white.

It used to be that one would have to say something racist to generate a conversation about racism. Obviously, that is not the case any longer. It hasn't been in a long time.

From what we can tell, not a single person or group of note has alluded to Khelif's race. Rather, they are busy focusing on the danger the boxer poses against the women whom she punches in the face.

Nasir and the editors at the AP know that. Yet they put their names behind the thesis, anyway. Why would they do that? 

For the same reason that Jemele Hill called upon Khelif to sue anyone who sympathizes with the women who Khelif is destroying in the ring.

For the same reason that Vox posted an article last week complaining that the 2024 Olympics do not include transgender athletes competing outside the gender they were assigned at birth.

They cannot bring themselves to cede an inch of ground in the culture war to their enemies. Thus, they are willing to put women in danger in exchange.

And putting women in danger is exactly what the Associated Press is doing by threatening to label anyone "racist" who dares to question if Imane Khelif should be allowed to punch women in a boxing ring.