Shadow Boxing

The issue of men boxing with women in the Olympics raises several questions, of which the most obvious are:  Should it be allowed?  And is it really being allowed, or are the reported facts actually wrong?  And what policies should be enacted to address this matter?

I’ve written before that adults should be allowed to identify themselves as anything they want—as long as they hurt nobody by doing so.  Whether a man identifies himself as a man, as a woman, as a furry, as a poached egg, or even as a Polish sausage is purely his/hers/its own business—until that decision begins to negatively affect others.  Thus a man can call himself a woman if he wants to, but he should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports since even if he begins to “transition” he will retain certain male characteristics, such as size, which will put him at a competitive advantage over women in many instances.  Besides, in contact sports, such as wrestling or boxing, there may be a greater risk to women of being injured as well.

And that was originally cited as the reason for outrage after an undeniably female Italian boxer was beaten by an Algerian competing as a woman but suspected of being a man merely claiming to be a woman.  Both the Algerian boxer and a Taiwanese boxer likewise competing as a woman despite suspicions to the contrary have been widely condemned, along with the Olympic officials who allowed them to compete in the first place.

But additional reporting has raised the possibility that the Algerian and Taiwanese boxers really are women after all—not merely “trans women,” i.e. men claiming to identify as women and maybe undergoing hormonal therapy as well—but real women, born women, with two X chromosomes, who have always identified, lived, and competed in athletic contests as women and who were assigned female status on their birth certificates, presumably after thorough physical examinations by the doctors who delivered them. 

That is exactly how the Olympic officials are describing the two boxers in question.  They claim that the boxers were wrongly classified as “men” by the International Boxing Agency, an organization dominated by Russians and led by a crony of Vladimir Putin, who declared them men and therefore ineligible to compete as women, allegedly following various unknown tests.  The IBA used to regulate boxing and determine which boxers could compete in the Olympics, but that relationship has since been severed by the International Olympic Committee, which will henceforth decide on its own who meets gender eligibility requirements.

If the IOC is correct and the boxers in question are truly real women, then obviously they are owed whatever honors and medals their boxing earns them—as well as groveling apologies from all who have smeared and tormented them.  And the IOC obviously will deserve credit for defending the boxers’ right to compete as women in the Olympics too.

But the question of whether “trans women” should be allowed to compete against born women in any sort of athletic contest remains controversial anyway.  My own modest and unoriginal proposal is to abandon the traditional distinction between women’s sports and men’s.  Women’s sports should remain a separate category for the benefit of born women who would otherwise be at a competitive disadvantage when competing with men, and far less likely to win the scholarships, medals, and other forms of beneficial recognition which come from athletic victories.  But rather than a men’s category there should be an “open” category, in which anyone can participate, including born men, men who say they’re women, and anyone else—including furries, poached eggs, and Polish sausages. 

And while we’re trying to develop and implement more fair and equitable ways to deal with the issue of men and women in athletic contests, we also need to develop better ways to find and report more accurately the facts in this case and similar ones that may arise.  In both the boxing ring and in the court of public opinion, too many people are being unjustifiably hurt.  Come to think of it, one victim is one too many.

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Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024).  He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015.  He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District.  Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.