Yeah, that boxer doesn't deserve to have the whole trans movement thrown on her. She might not have ever been aware of all the stuff going on inside her, and always thought she was a female who just had some ****ed up health problems, rather than a male who has them.
From that post:
a.) Does Khelif have a DSD? Almost certainly, since the chromosomes, testosterone levels, and physiognamy suggest that Khelif is a biological male, but the genitalia probably are female-like, although we don’t know for sure. At any rate, there was some phenotypic trait that caused Khelif to be raised as a female.
b.) Was the DSD XY DSD 5-alpha reductase deficiency (5-ARD)? It’s likely since Hooven discusses it at length. This is in fact the same DSD that Caster Semenya had:
according to the BBC:
Given that Semenya has the equipment (though perhaps not the ability) for making sperm, Semenya is biologically male. So is Khelif, though people are loath to say it or use the pronoun “he” (check their Wikipedia entries). It’s possible that Khelif has another DSD, PAIS D (partial androgen insensitivity syndrome), but this is less likely based on phenotype; and this condition is rarer.
. . . which leads us to the next question:
c.) Is Khelif a man? if he has 5-ARD and went through male puberty, producing testosterone at higher male levels (these don’t overlap with female levels), levels that require suppression to meet sports standards, the answer is
yes. Female-like genitalia don’t make someone a biological woman if they have testes (see above)
.
But there is one last question, and the most relevant one.
d.) Should Khelif be competing in women’s boxing? Given what we know of his size, strength, and performance, as well as his XY status and what must have been high testosterone, the answer is, at present,
no. Suppressing testosterone in his case will not eliminate any athletic advantages Khelif accrued by going through male puberty. But further investigation would be useful (see below).
e.) How should sports organizations determine if someone has a sex-based athletic advantage? Ideally, it should be a three-part test. First, are there testes or ovaries? If there are testes, that’s already a sign of male advantage, particularly when accompanied by an XY karyotype. Further tests can examine testosterone levels and exposure as well as sequencing of the DNA to see if there are genetic mutations causing DSDs. But there’s already enough information from Khelif’s obvious athletic advantages and his XY karyotype to mandate banning him/her from boxing until these other issues are examined.
Finally, let me add that most people having DSDs are not athletes in the limelight, and in fact have to deal with medical, emotional, and social issues that arise in conjunction with having DSDs. These people should not be regarded as freaks, have the same moral and legal equality as the non-afflicted, and should be treated with empathy
