Failing the gender test

Vol. 46

In This Issue: ESSAY | NOW READ THIS | LISTEN UP | FINAL FRAME

When I was young, I loved playing softball. I loved it so much that my goal, for a time, was to eventually be good enough to make the Olympic team. I practiced hard and often, focused on becoming either a third baseman or left fielder, because everyone said I had a great arm. 

In junior high, when I was playing park rec softball in an all-girls league, I was one of very few athletes with shorter hair. Being gender non-conforming and having pretty decent skills on the field was enough to make me the target of more than one opposing coach, who decided that I must, in fact, be a boy. I remember at least two instances where games were delayed by heated discussions over my gender. It wasn’t “fair” that a boy was hiding on the girls’ team! 

Thankfully, my own coach wasn’t having any of it. He calmly and firmly explained that I was a girl and the games went on. 

That some people mistook me for a boy wasn’t news to me. I have been getting misgendered since Kindergarten–sometimes innocently, oftentimes as a means of trying to shame or bully me. It used to make me want to curl up and hide, or lash out angrily. These days, I am very happy in my genderqueerness. Not a boy, not a girl, but some secret, third thing. When people ask me, “Are you a boy or a girl?” I get to answer honestly and happily that I am both, neither, all of the above.

But those arguments at kids softball games have always stuck with me. It’s hard not to be impacted when grown-ass adults obsess and rage over your body and very being. And the emotional memory of all that came roaring back last week, as all the world seemed suddenly obsessed with the gender of two Olympic women athletes: Imane Khelif, a boxer from Algeria, and Lin Yu-Ting, a boxer from Taiwan.

It’s likely you’ve heard something about this, but just to be clear: Both athletes are cisgender women. They were assigned female at birth and identify as women now. They have won their bouts at the Olympics fair and square. That’s really all that should matter.

And yet, the same manufactured hate machine designed and deployed to distract from real issues by ginning up fake controversy and conspiracies about everything and everyone from Bud Lite to Taylor Swift to vaccines has now come for Khelif and Yu-Ting.

Celebrities with massive platforms threw fuel on the fire by sharing blatant lies and misinformation. Mega-TERF J.K. Rowling, who never misses a chance to hate on trans people (even when the people in question aren’t actually trans), Elon Musk (whose own trans daughter continues to eviserate him) and others who never seem to be held accountable for their gross abuse of the facts all jumped in to accuse Khelif in particular of actually being a “man.” Why? Because a sketchy Russian boxing organization claimed that she’d failed a “gender test.” 

This organization (the International Boxing Association), by the way, was derecognized by the International Olympic Committee back in 2023 for a long history of corruption, biased judging, and lack of transparency. They refused to release any information about the so-called “gender tests” that they say Khelif and Yu-Ting failed, but that didn’t stop one of their officials from claiming that Khelif “has XY chromosomes” to a press that readily reprinted everything.

A few points: We don’t know for sure that Khelif has XY chromosomes. Even if she does, women can have XY chromosomes, and some go through their entire lives not knowing it. Human beings are not binary in much of anything. There exists a wide spectrum of ways of being and biology. Intersex people are as common as natural red-heads, for instance. Biology is not destiny, despite what TERFs would have you believe.

Further, the idea that simply having XY chromosomes, or “heightened levels of testosterone” (the other reason given for barring some women from competing in high-level sports), somehow gives someone an “unfair advantage” is both scientifically inaccurate and based on misogyny.

High-level athletes have all kinds of inherent advantages that give them a leg up over the rest of us. Michael Phelps has naturally lower levels of lactic acid that make his recovery time faster, and super long arms, among other things. Cisgender men have varying levels of naturally occurring testosterone–to the point that some opt for the gender-affirming care of hormone replacement therapy (see: most muscley actors over the age of 50). But you’ll never hear about sports organizations requiring cisgender men to take “sex tests” to prove their gender. Why might that be?

Because, since the dawn of the racist, patriarchal system we still live under, the powers that be have told us to be suspicious of any woman who wants to compete in sports. It’s seen as “not feminine” to be athletic, especially if that athleticism results in someone who doesn’t fit neatly into the very narrow box of “acceptable womanhood.” Muscles? Larger body? Darker skin? Any of those and more could be cause for suspicion.

As Dr. Cary Gabriel Constello at the Intersex Roadshow points out, too: 

The Olympics no longer “gender test” all women competitors. Instead, this is left up to each sporting organization, and they all have different rules, or make them up on the spot when some woman’s status is challenged. And guess what? The women whose gender is challenged are now almost all women of color whose gender expression is androgynous or masculine. Typically, the challenges are initiated by femme white women athletes who claim to need protection from their competitors. This reflects ideologies of ideal womanhood held by conservative white people.

Sadly, we’ve defined masculinity and manhood as something in opposition: not feminine, which is to say, not weak or frail. It stands to reason, then, that anyone (especially anyone non-white) who displays strength and ability must be a man, or at least is trying to be one.

What a sad, limiting, hollow definition to impose on men and boys and the rest of the world. And what a clear tell that so much of our society is built on deep fear of and/or disdain for women and girls and anyone who doesn’t fall neatly into either category.

In a case of supremely good but depressing timing, NPR and the CBC just released a fantastic, six-part podcast series called “Tested,” part of their Embedded series, that digs into the history of sex testing elite women athletes. I highly recommend giving it a listen. It’s expertly researched and includes interviews with several women who’ve faced restrictions on their participation due to “elevated testosterone levels.” It is heartbreaking and infuriating to learn about the absolutely unnecessary stress and hardship that these women have been forced through by a system based on flawed science and sexist thinking.

Meanwhile, Khelif and the Italian boxer she beat have both put out good statements in response to the ridiculous public outcry and media coverage that grew from their match. Read those, too.

One more thing: I’ve been heartened to see so many people coming to Khelif’s defense, and calling out the reckless reporting of media organizations that repeated some of the false and/or unsubstantiated claims being made without context or fact-checking. But I’ve also noticed a troubling trend, even among well-meaning defenders, of throwing transgender people/athletes under the bus in their rush to defend cisgender women.

Trans people should be allowed to compete at all levels of sport without invasive tests and genital inspections, just as cis people should. And the minute that cis women all realize that their fight is inextricably bound up with that of trans women and non-binary people, the sooner we’ll be able to make real progress toward a better, more equitable world for all.

Because this all comes down to gender policing in the name of power and control by the aforementioned racist, patriarchal social structure. Women are and should be allowed to exist in all of their diversity–shape, size, color, affect, religion, biology, etc. Same for men, same for those of us who don’t fit into either category. The minute you start saying “women must be this way, and men must be that way,” you’ve lost the plot and ceded the fight.

Trans-exclusionary bigots love to trot out the “what’s the definition of a woman” question, demanding a tidy answer that misses entirely that the point of real feminism is to leave that question open. A woman is anyone who feels she’s a woman. Boundaries and barriers and restrictions will not make the patriarchy crumble or keep us safe. They only make things worse.

I feel nothing but sympathy for and solidarity with Khelif and Yu-Ting. It’s enough of a challenge to keep a clear head while competing at such a high level, let alone with a howling mob of bigots using you as a pawn in their hate campaigns. I wish them nothing but the best.

But I also can’t help but think about those little, gender non-conforming kids who just want to play sports without adults accusing them of faking who they are, of being “wrong” somehow. Kids who live in states that have already passed laws that effectively bar them from participating in sports and school and public life generally unless they submit to invasive and gross genital and hormone inspections.

We’ve got a long way to go in this fight, I’m afraid. I can only hope that blow-ups like this at the Olympic level will at least wake up more people to the real threat we face right here at home. It’s high time we got motivated and organized to push back and build a society that gives space for people to be our full, beautifully diverse selves: women, men, and everyone in between and beyond.

Now Read This.

“Don’t fall for Republican tricks; vote ‘no’ on amendments” [Spencer Black in the Cap Times]

Really important to get out and vote in the August 13 primary, Wisconsin! And to vote NO on both State Questions 1 and 2, which are proposed constitutional amendments that are thinly veiled power grabs by our still gerrymandered, GOP-controlled Legislature. 

Also on the ballot for those in Dane County is the election for our new County Executive. There’s actually a contested race for this important position and I urge you to dig in and read up on each of the candidates. For what it’s worth, I am enthusiastically endorsing my longtime friend and incredible public servant, Dana Pellebon. She’s a big-hearted and no-nonsense leader who has experience across the spectrum of the Madison services spectrum. Plus, she’s an awesome queer person who’s been deeply involved in the alternative arts scene here for a long time. She’s multifaceted! And just who we need to help lead our county in a collaborative, inclusive, equitable, get-shit-done way.

“Library cuts are the last thing Madison’s art community needs” [Scott Gordon for Tone]

We talk a lot about the fact that the state of Wisconsin does an abysmal job of providing arts funding—dead last in the country, by some measures. We’ve also got to talk more about the related fact that the City of Madison and Dane County also don’t do a great job with this. The numbers certainly don’t square with Madison’s lip service about the importance of the arts. One-time pandemic relief funding from the federal government really did make a meaningful difference for a time, but just threw our shortcomings into sharper relief.

“Expect Anything” [Hannah Ritvo for Isthmus]

Oh hey! Check out this great write-up about Damsel Trash’s 10th anniversary and our show in Madison on August 17:

Damsel Trash will most likely play their “greatest hits” and unveil three or four newly finished songs.

“Anything can happen at a Damsel Trash show,” says Rose, who jokes about taking a “burger break” at the show, during which the duo might eat a burger on stage, Lady and the Tramp-style. The Harmony show will also feature exclusive Damsel Trash merch screen printed onto second-hand clothes by Rose’s partner. 

They might also belt out crazy, dirty pop covers, tell stories in between songs, and throw candy to audience members.

“You can have a good time and get silly and be punk without being shitty to people,” says Mills. “This is for queer and trans people — we try to make [shows] a joyous, raucous thing.” 

Listen Up!

My other band, LINE, has a show coming up this Saturday, August 10 in Madison - and it’s a lovely, early, outdoor gig!

Come hang out with us on the patio at Delta Beer Lab (167 E. Badger Rd.) in Madison from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be a food cart, and inside, an art show. Should be a real good time! This will be out last full-band show for a little while, too, so I hope to see you there.

Final Frame.

I got to travel to Colorado recently for a work trip and had time for a (slow, pained) hike up at 12,000 feet. This is the Southpark 600 to Square Top Lakes trail, about 1.5 hours outside of Denver. Absolutely stunning high mountain meadow, with a riot of wildflowers in bloom.

‘Til Next Time.

Stay safe, mask up, take care of each other. And feel free to hit me with up with comments, questions, good hiking/nature tips, and music recommendations. xoxo