Photo courtesy of AP Photo

If you were on social media around the time of the Olympics this year, you probably saw the name Imane Khelif in your feed. Khelif is an Algerian boxer who was heavily scrutinized under the pretense of being a transgender woman. This assumption, however, was false. Khelif is a cisgender woman who was assigned female at birth and continues to identify as such. Why is Khelif, the victim of this controversy, still the subject of public ire? Simple, because she’s not “woman enough” to meet the demands of some people.

Being perceived as “woman enough” often depends on presenting a certain way or having enough of a connection to womanhood to be considered a woman. Womanhood, however, is an intangible idea and a moveable goalpost that has been used to attack anyone and everyone who people don’t like for any one reason. Khelif’s birth certificate confirms she was born a woman, yet she was denied her womanhood when transgender suspicions were cast on her for dominating a boxing match against another woman.

Gender is not limited to one expression. A woman who wears dresses, heels and heavy makeup is just as much of a woman as one who wears suits and flats, just as a man who wears flannel is as much of a man as one who wears V-necks. The concept that people, women especially, must look and behave a certain way is one that feminists have been fighting for a long time. Time and time again, people have used this idea to ridicule people who don’t conform to their preconceived notion.

While done with the claimed intent of “protecting women,” this “transvestigation,” as it has been dubbed on X, results in a slap in the face to women worldwide. When a woman is accused of being a man because she is too strong, too smart or too fast, all it does is hammer in the sexist idea that women cannot be as strong as men and that women are biologically inferior to men. These sexist expectations affect the daily lives of countless women.

 In Texas in 2016, a man followed a woman into a bathroom because she didn’t “look like a woman.” She was wearing a baseball cap and had short hair. In 2023, Michelle Peacock was murdered outside her apartment building because her neighbor suspected she was “a male acting like a woman.” Similarly to Khelif, these women were villainized and harassed for not fitting the stereotype of what a “woman” should be.

The main reason many women in the athletic field are accused of being transgender is due to having higher levels of testosterone than the average woman. However, this claim has no weight, as testosterone levels naturally vary in women. Additionally, many women have higher testosterone levels due to a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). 

This condition affects approximately 8-13% of women, according to the World Health Organization, with 70% of cases being undiagnosed. For those with PCOS, the ovary glands produce too many androgens (sex hormones), including testosterone. Some women take medicine to help regulate it, but as most cases are undiagnosed, many women don’t know they have it. Having PCOS doesn’t make anyone less of a woman, it simply makes them a woman with a medical condition. 

The truth is, it wouldn’t really matter whether these women were transgender. Transgender people don’t transition to gain an athletic advantage, they do it to fulfill their gender identity. 

They deserve to play the same sport that they played prior to their transition. Plenty of transgender athletes who start out as mediocre in their old league remain mediocre in their new one. 

If you truly believe that men and women are of equal ability and equal opportunity, there should be no issue with a transgender athlete playing in a league with cisgender athletes.

No single experience can define womanhood, just as no single experience can define manhood. Gender and personhood are concepts that vary between individuals. The misogynistic and transphobic notion that people must appear and behave in a way that fits the popular perception of their assigned gender is harmful to us all. 

It’s best for everyone to let people do what fulfills them rather than wasting time and energy policing them on their own experiences.