Seeing the discussion about this get censored heavily was enlightening. The modlog had some of the best comments.
Imane Khelif is an intersex man that has the advantage of male puberty because he has XY chromosomes. He, like many intersex men, was born with ambiguous genitalia that looked like a vulva (but almost certainly didn’t have an actual female reproductive system). He was AFAB in the correct sense of the term, but is relying on incorrect paperwork to compete in women’s boxing.
Lemmy should be horrified at a dude punching women, not providing a smokescreen by saying “But Russia!”. The IBA had the tests done by independent labs that confirmed he is male, possibly with a DSD. They’re corrupt, but not in any way that affects this. If Khelif wants to prove them wrong and ensure that nobody ever believes the IBA ever again, he can get a simple cheek swab and show the world.
Sex is not hard. XY is male, XX is female. If something goes wrong with that, then you’re intersex. Leave women’s sports to women (XX). Intersex people can compete in men’s sports. Anything else is going to push women out of sports completely, because they have a biological disadvantage against men. If the Olympics doesn’t re-institute sex testing, we’re going to end up with “Men’s” and “Men with DSD” divisions.
Khelif most likely wasn’t born with a vagina, just ambiguous genitalia that looked like a vulva. He almost certainly has testicles like Caster Semenya that induced male puberty, and likewise has no female reproductive system.
I’ve been somewhat sloppy with terminology in this thread, using “man” as short for “man with a DSD”, which is better termed “intersex”. The important thing is that Khelif is intersex from the XY side, which gives him an unfair advantage against women in sports.
I think it’s important to not call Khelif a woman. It is unsafe for him to compete in women’s boxing, and it’s much easier for people to use bad faith arguments and spread misinformation by saying “She’s a woman competing against women, what’s the problem?” It clears things up to say “He’s an intersex person that went through male puberty competing against women”