On August 9, Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif filed a legal complaint in France after being the subject of cyberbullying and facing a barrage of comments regarding her gender. Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, filed the complaint with a special unit in the prosecutor’s office in Paris that combats hate speech used online.
Boudi says Khelif was targeted by a “misogynist, racist, and sexist campaign.” The prosecutor’s office’s Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crime opened an investigation on charges of “cyber harassment based on gender, public insults based on gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insults on the basis of origin.” The action was filed against X, meaning that it was filed against unknown persons according to French law.
During her match against Italy boxer Angela Carini, Khelif dealt a heavy blow, which caused Carini to end the fight, telling her coach that Khelif was “too strong.” This gave several conservatives and those who are anti-trans the ammo to begin questioning her gender identity, accusing her of being a biological male and intersex. Public figures who accused her included Ted Cruz, Piers Morgan, Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, and Elon Musk, along with JK Rowling, who are both named in the cyberbullying lawsuit.
The accusations sparked after it was revealed that Khelif was disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association (IBA) world championships due to failing an unspecified gender eligibility test. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has disputed the test, plus the IBA was banned from participating in the Olympics after years of corruption in 2019.
Khelif is from Algeria, where homosexuality is prohibited by law. The law doesn’t recognize LGBTQ+ people. The social attitude towards members of LGBTQ+ people is openly negative and can even be violent. Khelif was born female and has never transitioned. Comments made by her accusers could put her in harm’s way if others believe the misinformation being spread online about her sex. It’s essential to note that Khelif boxed in the previous Olympics in 2021 with no issue.
Khelif spoke about how the comments had affected her during the Olympics, saying that “there was a lot of noise from politicians, athletes, stars, artists – Elon Musk and Donald Trump — and that hurt me a lot. I cannot describe how scared I was.”
Most attacks were on social media, notably X, formally known as Twitter. In one post, Rowling accused Khelif of being a man who enjoyed the “distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head” with a post of a picture of Khelif and Carini’s fight. Trump also posted a photo from the match, saying, “I will keep men out of women’s sports.”
More cis-gendered female athletes faced outcry similar to Khelif. Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting was also questioned about her sex due to her failing an IBA gender test. American basketball player Brittney Griner, rugby player Ilona Maher, and swimmer Riley Gaines were also mocked for having masculine features and “being men,” with a comment from Twitter owner Musk saying, “Men don’t belong in women’s sports” in regards to Gaines.
This situation stems from an ongoing double standard that female athletes face compared to their male counterparts. Because men are socially expected to be stronger, faster, and more aggressive, they are praised for their athleticism. Women are expected to be fragile, vulnerable, and submissive, and when they don’t meet these standards, they are punished. Women who don’t meet Western or Eurocentric beauty standards and behaviors, like Khelif, Yu-ting, Garner, Maher, and Gaines, tend to be othered. Because each of these women displays different athleticism levels that exceed the average person, they will have their femininity removed from their person and sometimes be forced to minimize their genetic advantages, such as South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya.
Semenya has also had her sex and gender questioned after winning multiple awards in track and field. Semenya, like Khelif, produces elevated levels of testosterone. However, Semenya was ruled to use medication to lower the levels of testosterone her body naturally produces by the International Association of Athletics Federation.
