How a person
All sympathy must always be for the male. No exceptions.
Nobody should be “it”. Pet owners are offended if a beloved dog or cat is called “it”. Yet that’s how Khelif would have returned to Algeria, had a significant number of public voices had their way. As an “it”. Dehumanised, dispossessed.
Except that nobody advocated for Khelif to be called “it”.
Yet no thought appears to have been given to Khelif’s existence outside the boxing ring. No discussion of how a person might conceivably exist going forward has been inspired by this story.
A person? No. You mean a man. Your empathy is all for the man; the women who were battered and cheated by the man don’t intrude on your attention for a second.
We heard a lot about mortal danger in Paris, yet nobody dallied greatly on the mental wellbeing of a competitor arriving a woman and denounced as a man. A punch hurts, but it is not necessarily the worst thing that can happen to a boxer if sport does not handle this issue with care.
Says the man cheerfully, on account of how it’s not his face that would take that punch, it’s just some bitch’s face. The punch will hurt her but who cares, because she’s just some bitch.
Yeah, tell us how winning an Olympic medal caused this person anguish — more anguish than the women who were unfairly beaten out of them. I’m sorry, but sports journalists are among the most stupid people alive.
He’s almost certainly being referred to as an “it” or a “he/she”… I doubt too many people (feminists anyways) are doing it because it would de-emphasize the main point (him being a male in women’s combat sports). I’ll admit a bit of hesitation on my part calling him a “he” though not with the idea that he’s male (which seems almost certainly to be true).
Side note: want to post anything about Cindy Ngamba? Still women’s boxing but she won a medal for Team Refugee (first time). Posted it in miscellany, but figured something positive and vaguely related would be welcome.
Liar! Plenty of people took up, and are still taking up, an inordinate amount of air proclaiming just that.
What in the fresh misogynist hell…?!?! How many abusers have claimed the same, their precious feeeeleengs were hurrrrt and they had to do it and just look what you MADE them do. Fuck all the way off with that entire sentiment, little Marty dearest, and take the Times with you for paying you to both lie and declare open season on women everywhere.
On the other hand: thanks BKiSA for bringing up Cindy Ngamba, makes a pleasant palate cleanser!
“Don’t you dare use the only gender-neutral singular pronoun that exists in English. But I’ll refer to him using the gender neutral ‘person’.”
“A punch hurts, but it is not necessarily the worst thing that can happen to a boxer if sport does not handle this issue with care.”
Khelif rabbit-punched one of his opponents. That was an extremely dangerous action that could have lead to paralysis or death. But that’s not nearly as bad as being “misgendered” while people call for restricting the female competition to people who are female.
The thing is, he’s been tested, he’s seen the results, he knows he’s a male and he always has been, yet he still pursued that gold medal. So don’t go blaming us for hurting his feelings!
Look, I get it, he must be under tremendous pressure. Olympic gold medals must be hard to come by in Algeria. In his heart of hearts he may realize that he’s been used by his masters for political advantage back home. The whole thing sucks. But the gender-critical are not on the wrong side of this.