A brief rant about Imane Khelif controversy (and some rambling about sports)
Unless you can prove she was assigned male at birth, there are no evidences that she is trans.
And no, her appearance and strength are not evidences; believe it or not, those feminine-looking women in the media do not represent all women, which is hypocritical of certain so-called feminists who object women being judged for their looks and yet they judge trans and trans-suspected women for “looking like men”.
Heck, even just a few minutes before I started writing this (literally a few minutes ago), I fell to the baseless speculation that she was intersex; of course, because transphobes think biological sex is clear-cut and strictly binary, they would still insist she is trans even if she is revealed as intersex.
But, even if she is proven to be trans, she actually proves the “concern” about trans athletes in women’s sports is just fear-mongering; if she has biological advantages, why didn’t she win every single tournament prior the 2024 Olympics? Why doesn’t she have a long and consistent winning streak?
And let’s not pretend those people ever care about the integrity of women’s sports in the first place.
It is also interesting that the likes of Michael Phelps and Yao Ming are never accused of having biological advantages, even though they clearly do.
Speaking of biological advantages, why aren’t more sports competitions categorised by the players body types? Why does this only apply to certain branches of sports? If they really care about fair competitions, shouldn’t this be a more widespread practice?
This also makes me realise that competitive sports are….. weird.
This is the rambling part.
I am not referring to the likes of soccer, baseball and basketball, as they often provide light and escapist entertainment to the masses. As much as they are not for me, I no longer judge people who enjoy them, not since I found myself enjoying youtubers playing video games, despite almost never playing any myself.
But, other branches of sports, the less popular ones, the olympic ones? Why are they even a thing?
If commercialised soccer, basketball and baseball tournaments are the sport equivalents of escapist pop culture, does that mean olympic sports are the sport equivalent of niche arts and entertainment, ones which are mostly confined to festivals, small venues and advertising-free public broadcasters?
Or, is it just a simple case of nationalism, as such tournaments are often international?
If either is the case, then I understand. While I may not voluntarily watch them. I understand. If it is a matter of venerating sportspeople, especially professional ones, then I don’t get it.
Yes, I know those people are undeniably fit and well-disciplined. But, you don’t need to be an athlete to be fit and you certainly don’t need competitive sports to be disciplined.
I don’t know whether I am observing correctly or just hallucinating. But, sometimes, it does feel like we put athletes on a higher pedestal, as if they are innately better than the rest of us, simply because they are good in sports.
Similar to how people venerate military personnel, simply because they are in the military.
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Actually, I take my words back about the physical categories. I thought they made sports more fair. I guess it depends on how rigid the people in charge are.
Yes, I am talking about that Indian wrestler, Vinesh Phogat.
Seriously, she exercised and she didn’t eat or drink anything throughout the night, she cut her hair, she did a morning sauna session and, for God’s sake, she even withdrew some blood!
But still, she was denied a medal because she was overweight by a hundred grams. Grams! Are you fucking kidding me?
And to think her own country abandons her.
This rigid idea of “fairness” actually makes sports unfair, inhumane even.
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