J.K. Rowling sparked controversy over Olympian Imane Khelif's gender
Known for her controversial views, J.K. Rowling has targeted Olympian Imane Khelif, accusing her of being a "a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment." Internet users quickly responded to the author.
Italian boxer Angeli Carini decided to forfeit her match against Algerian Imane Khelif after a powerful punch from Khelif broke her nose. The bout lasted just 46 seconds, but the discussion still ignited everyone.
J.K. Rowling spoke out, calling Imane a "fraud" and accusing her of "bullying her opponent" after the athlete failed a gender qualification test.
Doctors from Imane's team argue that biologically, she is a woman, suffering only from a rare disorder of sexual development that causes a woman to have male chromosomes or male anatomy.
Explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women, wrote Rowling in one of her posts.
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, she raged in her next post.
Internet users defended Imane.
If you believe in only two genders, which correspond to the one assigned to you at birth, then she is not a man, wrote one user.
Categorising women the way you are doing now is misogyny, added another.
Elon Musk was among those who supported the view that Imane Khelif is a man. However, Member of Parliament Nadia Whittome offered a different perspective on the entire debate.
Serena Williams was accused of being a man when outperforming a white female. Caster Semenya was accused of being a man when outperforming a white female. Imane Khalifa was accused of being a man when outperforming a white female. Take what you want from this, wrote the member of the British Labour Party.
If Imane Khelif were such an unstoppable monster benefiting from an unfair advantage, she probably wouldn't have lost 20 per cent of her fights at the international level… and she probably would have stopped more than 8 per cent of her opponents, added another commenter.
Imane and Thai boxing champion Lin Yu-ting did not pass the gender tests before the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships and were subsequently disqualified. However, they were allowed to compete in Paris because the Olympic Games are governed by a different body – the International Boxing Association (IBA).
