enter the genital police
notes on gender controversy
During the past week, several members of my community made vitriolic posts challenging the gender/sex of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif.
I am shocked by the enthusiastic bigotry with which this story was shared by people I know. Khelif is cisgender woman, but the media roped her boxing match into broader anti-trans narratives, so I will focus my energy on this theme.
I am horrified by the demonization of transgender people in our society. There is also an ego hit when digesting the posts I saw the last few days. I thought “we” (my extended network of relationships) were a few steps along in dismantling the gender binary and celebrating the magical diversity of human experience. It appears not.
So, as Joris Lechene says, time for school.
I share here some questions to reflect on when we see headlines evoking fear and rage at transgender people and their rights (and/or the “liberal conspiracy” supporting them):
Is this story actually veiled anti-trans bigotry? We live in a world where violence and phobias against transgender people dominate. There are many who will take any opportunity to interpret a media situation to complement their fear-driven narratives. Openly attacking people who are trans is (thankfully) not socially acceptable in much of society. So, those who wish to voice anti-trans agendas need to find stories that appear to be about something else (e.g. fairness in sports, women’s rights, the safety of children, etc) to demonize trans people. We can all agree there is limited public interest in women’s boxing welterweight qualification standards. So, what is this story really about?
Is this story actually veiled racism? When you see the world attack people of color due to a white person’s tears, please pause. Much of the initial Khelif media coverage featured images (like the one above) and headlines focusing on the weeping face of her light-skinned Italian opponent. As Ruby Hamad has reminded us, white women's emotions have a long history of being used to justify racial violence and maintain white supremacy.
Will my actions do harm? In light of the daily violence faced by trans and gender-nonconforming people, what is the potential impact of my words? Open debate is vital. However, that does not mean everything must be said in all forums. Let us be mindful of our speech and its impact on others. For some, the tone of our “debate” impacts their immediate safety and survival.
Do I want to be the genital police? I honestly thought we had a collective ambition to stop dissecting women’s bodies. We stand on the steps of government and churches shouting, “GET THE F@$K OUT of women’s bodies!” We post endlessly demanding we stop telling women what to do with their pregnancies, their weight, their hair, their time. Stop telling women how to be women. Yet, here is my feed, with friends of all genders jumping over each other to say this person is not a woman. In the horrifying comments, people are demanding to know this athletes genitalia, blood work, chromosomes, medical history, medication regimes, and testosterone levels. “Prove to us you are a woman!!” “You don’t look like one to me.” Do you want to take part in this inquisition? Or do you wish to work to dismantle these chains?
Is my rage misled or misbalanced? We have real problems. The world has abusive poverty, wars, genocide, 25+ million sex trafficking victims, a climate crisis, etc. In the US and Canada, it is completely legal to throw people out on the street when they have nowhere to live. Many beings are suffering in ways that can fuel one’s emotions and actions. If you find yourself angrier about the specter of a transgender human’s existence than these issues, I would ask you to reflect on why that is. Who benefits from you believing trans people are a threat? If you hang out in churches, communities, news sources, etc., that assert a small, marginalized community of gender-nonconforming people is a dominant threat of our times, are those people you want to spend time around?
Transgender people are not the enemy. It is a common belief in the Western world that the genitals you have at birth are the fundamental guide for how you should act for the rest of your life. These genitals, so the story goes, are imperative to define how you should dress, speak, love, f(#k, and be. This obsession with genitalia is weird. It is harmful. It is violent. People expressing their truths differently than yours are not the enemy.
Gender-nonconforming people are a guide to liberation. They are not responsible for liberating us, but they are a source of inspiration and hope.
Vancouver - August, 2024
This one is so strong. It made me cry, in such a good way.
Thank you for this. So many important questions set out in a good way.