Victoria Cobb, President
Friday, August 2, 2024
If the Olympics couldn't get any more controversial after the blatant mocking of Christianity during the opening ceremonies, it just did with presumed biological males being allowed to compete in women's boxing.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is allowing two boxers, who according to a report have XY chromosomes (male), to compete in the women's division at the Paris Olympics. It is our understanding that before Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting's were approved by the IOC they were disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) during the 2023 World Championships because they didn't satisfy the gender eligibility test.
The IOC defended their decision, stating that "with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport." While there are more details to be learned about the qualification criteria the IOC and the IBA used to arrive at different conclusions, the fact remains that Angela Carini, an Italian female boxer who boxed Khelif, was punched with such extreme force that she forfeited after just 46 seconds.
"I started to feel a strong pain in my nose...a punch hurt too much and so I said enough," said Carini. As soon as she stopped the fight, she was seen removing her headgear and yelling "this is unjust."
This Olympic boxing controversy only adds to the growing list of examples of female athletes who've been physically harmed by biological males during athletic competitions. Here's just a few:
- In September 2014, Fallon Fox, a biological male fractured a female's skull and gave her a concussion during a mixed martial arts match.
- Two years ago, Payton McNabb, a female volleyball player, was left paralyzed with brain damage by a biological male opponent who 'cackled with delight' after knocking her to the ground.
- In 2023, a Massachusetts high school female field hockey player had her teeth knocked out and suffered "significant facial" injuries when an opposing biological male player shot a field hockey ball at her face during a game.
- Earlier this year a Massachusetts high school had to forfeit a game at halftime because several female players were injured, some of which were caused by a biological male player.
Despite these horrific examples of dangerous policies that allowed males to compete on all-female sports teams, there are some positive developments to correct these wrongs.
- New Hampshire became the 25th state to pass legislation protecting female athletics.
- In June a federal judge blocked the Biden Administration's re-write of Title IX rules, siding with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and attorneys general in five other states - Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia.
- According to recent public polling by Gallop and Mason Dixon, 70-80% of respondents reject the idea of men participating on all-female sports teams.
We strongly supported legislation introduced in Virginia this year (HB 1120, HB 1229, and SB 723), and will continue to champion future legislation, that would require all K-12 schools and college sports teams, and any private schools who would play them, to be designated based on biological sex and only allow females to play on female teams. Had the legislation passed, it would have also given families the ability to pursue civil penalties for both students and schools who were harmed.
If this boxing story has taught us anything, it's that we need specific policies that make clear the requirements to compete in all-female sports. Every woman, parent, and rational-thinking person must reject biological males competing in female sports!
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