Yes, Imane Khelif is not a trans athlete. But, no, that doesn’t mean they should be eligible to compete in women’s sports. Here are the reasons:
Imane Khelif likely has had a chromosome karyotyping genetic test. Given Imane was disqualified from competing in 2023 due to a failed gender test that was not using testosterone levels as the metric (testosterone is not a gender test and should not be used to determine gender since we have a much better obvious test for assessing male or female sex). The results would have been XY in-order to fail a gender test (in-order to compete in female categorisation), which is male chromosomes. This means that Imane Khelif is biologically (natal) male. The International Boxing Association (IBA) said Khelif “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”. According to the IBA’s regulations: “Boxers will compete against boxers of the same gender”, meaning women vs women and men vs men as per the definitions of these rules. The IBA defines a woman as “an individual with chromosome XX” and a man as “an individual with chromosome XY”.
As Imane’s home country Algeria does not have trans-rights laws, it is likely Imane has DSD (disordered sexual development), either 46,XY syndrome (also known as 5-alpha-reductase deficiency) or AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome). In both those cases, when born, the male baby during in-utero growth has not properly developed externalised male sex organs, but instead the testis have not descended nor has the penis and as a result it looks more like the outside genitals of a female (which does not make the baby a female). With XY allosomes (sex chromosomes) and DSD, even with the look of external female genitalia, Imane would not have reproductive capable functioning female sex organs. No womb, no ovaries, etc. It’s just that during gestational development, with 46XY syndrome, the baby has a gene variant (polymorphism) that is essentially malfunctioning when it comes to the production of DHT (dihydrotestosterone) needed in baby males during in-utero development. This means the baby boy in-utero does not produce the type of testosterone that signals the development of external male genitalia. The rest of this person’s body does experience the full effects of testosterone throughout puberty and beyond, so this makes Imane have ‘malformed’ (not typically properly developed male-looking sex organs) genitalia, that doesn’t make Imane a natal female. We do not call boys who were captured and castrated by slavers ‘girls’ just because they don’t have male genitalia. It’s not the existence of externally visible typical sex characteristics that make females female or males male, although they are used as the first line of assessment when determining the gender of a newborn, and it is typically highly reliable and accurate.
It’s also possible Imane has AIS. This also results in being born without fully developed external male genitalia. Some individuals with AIS are born with partially descended testis, others start to feel pain in puberty as they never descend and may need to remove them to avoid the risk of cancer. The point is, many obstetricians will incorrectly categorise the gender of these babies as female, because they don’t see classical testis nor a penis at birth. For males with AIS (who typically are mistakenly registered as females at birth), they usually find out that they have AIS during puberty, when they grow more like males do physically and don’t get a menstrual cycle. The rest of their body fully responds to the testosterone they produce like a healthy male does. In Imane’s case, it is very likely they were misdiagnosed at birth due to DSD which could be either 46,XY or AIS. In this respect, it may be appropriate to use the pronoun “they”, as Imane would likely have grown up being treated as and told they were a girl.
It’s important to consider the fact that Imane Khelif entered the Olympics likely knowing that they are a natal male (XY). As Imane was disqualified in competition in 2023 due to failing a gender test, which is a genetic test of the allosome genes (XX or XY karyotyping). Many sports managers look for individuals like Imane Khelif, because often they would during childhood appear to be excellent at sports when competing against girls – the reason being, they are males with malformed genitalia. People with these DSD conditions are not at fault, as they would likely have thrived in sports as children and therefore been noticed for this and encouraged to pursue a career in sports. But they are not natal female and therefore do not belong in female competitive sports. Just as a fully abled person is not allowed to compete in the para-Olympics, a person with a bionic pair of legs is not allowed to compete in the regular Olympic races, natal males should not be allowed to compete against women in Olympic boxing. It would be impressive if individuals like Imane Khelif started to share their stories, inform the public, become thought leaders and set examples to future generations about how to address these sensitive situations. This would make them incredible people.
We cannot blame individuals like Imane Khelif. They were misclassified at birth. It was an honest mistake by the obstetrician. To avoid making such mistakes, it would be wiser for babies to be karyotyped at birth. It is cheap, fast and easy to do. This is to protect those with DSD from being incorrectly classified and help ensure they are given all the support to lead a healthy, fulfilling life, instead of facing confusion during puberty and possible ostracism. There are already newborn screening tests commonly performed to detect rare genetic conditions that can cause serious health problems such as aneuploidy, sex chromosome duplications or deletions, phenylketonuria (PKU) and sickle cell disease.
Because of all the deliberate obfuscation around the meaning or simple terms like ‘male’ and ‘female’, many well-meaning people have been left feeling confused about these issues. Going forward, to avoid confusion, it may be best to not say “male category” nor “female category”, but “XX” and “XY” categories. This way there would be no confusion about who should be allowed to compete against each other. The terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ should be what they have always meant until five minutes ago: Male = XY, and female = XX.
Dr. Isabella Cooper is a Biochemist and Medical Pathologist.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.