Thanks to all of you who have posted. I’ve seen a sickening amount of hatred and ignorance about this in other places.
Wow, if the IOC says you’re corrupt…
I know, right? 
Got a cite for this quote? Because the National Organization for Rare Disorders description of Swyer syndrome that you linked to upthread, which references in detail a lot of work by actual geneticists, seems to disagree pretty strongly with that reductionist perspective. Their article consistently refers to individuals with Swyer syndrome as “girls” and “women”, not “male”. (Nor does it use different capitalization conventions for “Male” [sic] and “female”, as your quoted passage does.)
The article also points out that Swyer-syndrome XY women can become pregnant and give birth using donated eggs, so, doesn’t seem all that “Male” [sic] to me?
IANA geneticist, but IME, research published by actual geneticists tends not to make simplistic binary assertions about variations in human sexual development.
My guess is that it’s a random person on social media.
I tried searching for the exact wording of snippets from that quote and found nothing, so I doubt it was published anywhere noteworthy.
I’m sure that it’s a coincidence that she just recently beat a Russian boxer.
Yeah, subject to correction by the better-informed, that’s what it smelled like to me too. “Geneticist”, uh-huh.
Update: I would like to withdraw my above snarky remarks about Khelif’s defeated opponent Angela Carini, who now seems to have issued an apology for her earlier behavior that’s gracious and decent, and incidentally respects Khelif’s female identity:
I’m not a geneticist, and I can still tell that post is complete bullshit.
Yeah, someone on Farcebook. That’s why I said she says she’s a geneticist.
Yep. Me too.
I did note that in your original post, you never implied that the quote was from someone with actual expertise or authority.
It’s a good example of the misinformation out there that is fueling these criticisms.
She should obviously make her own decisions on this based on her situation, independent of any symbolism, but part of me hopes that she eventually goes this route, just to watch the heads of all of her detractors explode.
Hmmmm, and the other boxer that IBA retroactively disqualified from the 2023 world championships on allegations of failing a gender eligibility test, Lin Yu-Ting, had won her bronze medal by beating Bulgarian boxer Staneva Svetlana Kamenova. Lin’s disqualification, of course, meant that Kamenova got the bronze.
In those same championships (but in the welterweight class), Khelif defeated Russia’s Azalia Amineva in the round of 16, then Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khomidova in the quarterfinals, then Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semis, before getting the gender-eligibility disqualification.
Well, given that we have no firm evidence yet that Khelif even does have a Y chromosome, much less what kind of putative DSD might accompany it if she did, it’s difficult to assess what her various future reproductive options might be. Still, I join you in wishing her all the best in her personal fulfillment and whatever role parenthood may play in that, as well as in her sports career.
This is unsourced, but it’s an assertion that there is some seriously hinky shit going on between the IOC and the International Boxing Association with significant Russian influence happening in the background.
If there’s anything to this, then JK Rowling has become a useful idiot for the Russians.
A woman in my social circle presents as female but is non-binary – I don’t know the precise details. Her nickname within the group was Hermione because early on she was all, “I know! I know! Pick me!”
She’s asked us to not call her that any more.
Oh, there are sources. Much of it listed in an article in the NYTimes today (free gift link below):
So this pisses me off. I mean it’s bullshit whatever, but it’s even bullshit by the standards of the “gender critical” movement.
Imane Khelif is a cis women. Her gender assigned at birth, the only one that matters according to the gender critical movement, is female. They are the ones saying hormones and superficial outward appearances don’t matter, only your “biological” “real” gender you were born with matters. Except in this case (which purely coincidentally is a woman of color from Africa) where her “real” gender doesn’t matter it’s only the alleged high testosterone levels that matters.
So it is the fuckin’ Russians.
Man, they should just be bottled up inside their borders until they can figure out how to stop being assholes to everyone.
Athletes have in the past been deemed ineligible due to “failing” a testosterone test. That is why I was wondering what are the current official regulations.
Yeah, as I said above, for the TERFs jumping on this train, this finally puts to bed the idea that they weren’t just foaming at the mouth bigots who hate people who are different and were really motivated by legitimate concerns about women’s spaces or whatever. Nope, they’re foaming at the mouth bigots who hate people just for being different.
They see a woman who both passes the woman test under their own criteria, and also as far as we know did not choose to do anything to affirm her gender (even according to their own propaganda). She is just like this because that’s what biology does sometimes, and they still hate her because gender nonconformity is scary.
She has my sympathy.
Speaking of hateful shit noise from JK Rowling that we’re sick of: I note that while she was trying to rev up the pity party for Angela Carini as a woman “whose life’s ambition” was “just shattered” by Khelif’s defeating her, she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Carini’s “life’s ambition” had been equally “shattered” back in the 2020 Olympics when she lost a bout to Chen Nien-chin.
Boxers lose competitions all the time, just like boxers get punched in the head all the time. If you don’t like either or both of those facts, you shouldn’t follow boxing.
If I were Angela Carini, I’d be pretty mortified that a temporary setback in my high-achieving, incredibly tough and challenging elite boxing career was being spun by a self-serving transphobic asshole like JK Rowling into a patronizing sob story about “a male [sic] punching a female” and thereby “shattering” “her life’s ambition” and crushing her dreams, oh boo hoo hoo poor widdle baby.
(Of course, I guess if you don’t want self-serving transphobic assholes spinning your elite sports competition into a patronizing sob story then maybe don’t burst into tears in public and refuse to shake your opponent’s hand when you lose said competition? Still, I’m willing to cut Carini some slack for suddenly having to swallow both the painful hit and the severe disappointment. I’m sure I personally would have reacted much worse.)