rainynight65

The IBA has not disclosed the nature of the tests conducted on Khelif and Yu-Ting. The results therefore are not conclusive, nor are they reproducible.

Conjecture is not scientific proof.

Science is undecided on whether high testosterone levels give women an edge in sports. Many successful male athletes have comparatively low testosterone levels

While this reads and sounds reasonable, in reality it is anything but. Because what it boils down to is that women are not allowed to be successful on the same terms as men.

If a male athlete stands out over his peers through unusual body features and physical advantages, that's fine. But if a woman does, then you immediately get people questioning if she's really a woman.

The gender policing of successful female athletes is not new - it has a long and dreadful history. Athletes like Martina Navratilova, Venus and Serena Williams, even Simone Biles were subjected to this at some point in their careers. For some women it has led to significant disadvantages and loss of opportunities purely based on conjecture.

Also, this kind of policing is often done by women under the pretence of wanting to protect women - but hurting women in the process. Some women don't care that they're hurting other women. The key problem is that womanhood gets redefined all the time and narrowed at will depending on who currently rouses someone's ire.

So for what you're proposing to work, the criteria must be simple, wide-reaching, and unassailable. They must not discriminate against women with unusual physiques or body features so long as they are clearly women. Gender determination cannot be intrusive or demeaning. Anything else hurts all women and entrenches their systemic disadvantages.

When 99% of what a person says is made up bullshit, chances are the remaining 1% are too. Or at least it's taken out of context and twisted to fit a desired narrative. You can't trust anything they say either way.

You're implicitly accusing an athlete you don't even know of cheating and doping, insinuating that it's because she is from a country that hasn't won many gold medals - but I'm being mean for telling you to fuck off?

Would you like me to repeat my words, or would that be too 'mean'?

She has previously tested for high testosterone levels in a test that was, by the words of an IOC official, "cobbled together, as I understand, overnight [during the world championships] to change the results.” The nature of the tests was unspecified,, and the governing body has been banned from the Olympics over governance and corruption issues. It has been insinuated that the unspecified test at the world championships was only administered by the Russian-led IBA after Khelif defeated a Russian athlete.

Khelif was born a woman, has identified as a woman all her life, and was even banned from boxing as a child by her father because he deemed it to be 'not for girls'. She has competed for years, has wins and losses in her belt like any other athlete.

And yes, as you say, high testosterone levels in women can occur due to a variety of reasons, including medical ones. So we should not immediately suspect foul play when a high performing female athlete has above average testosterone.

Since I'm on my phone I am not going to deeplink each claim - receipts are in the following articles:

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/olympics-boxer-imane-khelif-anti-trans-rcna164721

https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-boxing-gender-4b6eb881cce9c34484d30c68ad979127

And one more thing: a man would never be subject to this kind of demeaning scrutiny even if he seriously outperforms his peers. Michael Phelps has unusual body features that give him an almost unfair edge over competitors. He has won 20 gold medals in his career. His success is attributed to skill and hard work. Katy Ledecky has matched his medal tally, and was subjected to the same suspicions and demeaning scrutiny as Khelif is now. Hint: there is no evidence that she is anything but a woman. The gender scrutiny of high performing female athletes goes back to the 1930s, because for some reason high performing women with a perceived unusual or 'non-feminine' physique are immediately suspect.

Oh fuck off. For one, it's not even clear whether higher testosterone levels really give an athlete that much of an edge - many high level male athletes have comparatively low testosterone levels. Secondly, the forms of doping that involve testosterone are not manifesting themselves purely in higher testosterone levels - there are other tests for that. If there was any suspicion that this athlete was doping, they'd run the gamut on her - note how many athletes were already suspended this year, and they're not from comparatively poor countries like Algeria.

If a male boxer beats an opponent to a pulp, then we collectively shrug and move on. Oh well, he was just better. Poor matchmaking. But when it involves women, suddenly there must be something wrong with the athlete who, applying Occam's Razor, simply was stronger.

When I started University, I used part of my small savings to buy a very nice bicycle so I could get around between uni districts.

When I moved into a shared student apartment, there was a locked bicycle room in the basement. Only resident keys would fit that lock. Nonetheless I still locked my bike separately.

The one day I forgot to do that, my bike was no longer there the next day. It pissed me off immensely because I couldn't immediately afford a new one, and the theft really made me uncomfortable. Mostly the fact that it must have involved someone who lived in the same block.

There is absolutely nothing complex about this matter. A woman had a physical advantage over another woman, and is immediately suspected of not being a 'real woman'. This shit is as old as time itself, and it would never happen to a man.

You can disable and even delete an eSIM-profile. Then it's just a dead chip. If your provider is halfway decent, you can recover a deleted eSIM-profile as well.

When I traveled last year, having eSIM-capability in my phone was extremely convenient. I picked two providers, one as the primary and one as a backup in case there were problems with the first one. No juggling with the SIM-tray and different nano SIMs.

Good for you. Would you like a medal?

Let me rephrase.

Nobody has ever called him a freak in earnest, and nobody has ever scrutinised him the way they are scrutinising every single woman who dares to be successful while not conforming to an arbitrary and ever-narrowing standard of womanhood.