The sporting world is afoot with nastiness. There’s a recipe to it. I’ll grab my cute little pink apron, tie up my cute pink ballet pumps and bake the sporting world for you, using the recipe I’ll recite in just a bit. I’ll play the wonderful symphony of swan lake as I twirl around my quaint little kitchen overlooking a small lake with ducks. I’ll grab a bowl and fill it with white supremacist ideologies, a teaspoon of misogyny, a tablespoon of misogynoir, a teaspoon of what I like to call Afrophobia and a sprinkle of racism. I’ll proceed to shove that entire mess of a recipe into an oven and bam, you’ve whipped up a sporting world cake special.
Okay, I’ll admit that that was pretty lame but you get my point.
I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that the Paris Olympics 2024 have been nothing but a hot mess lately (which alludes to the crappy recipe that bakes the sporting world into what it is and always has been). There seems to be scandal after scandal that is unfortunately taking the spotlight away from the reason why we watch the Olympics: which are the sports. I mean, duh.
Watching the world rip Imane Khelif to shreds has been an eye-opener for various issues embedded in sports or is it sports culture? The sports society? The sporting world? Look, I have no idea what it’s called collectively but I’m sure I have managed to get my point across. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to call the world of sports because I have the athletic ability of a worm. No, that’s too much credit because worms at least get around some. I’d say I’m a potato. Ground reared and ready to be chipped baby, that’s me (*crickets were heard from the audience* *slinks off the stage in embarrassment*). ANYWAAAAAY, I’m no stranger to how people of colour are treated in sports, but I would be lying if I said that I knew it was THIS bloody awful. I mean…if this year’s Olympics are any indicator of women of colour’s abuse, I have no clue what is.
Definition of terms:
I’m sure my deliciously appalling recipe needs some back up. By back-up, I mean definition of terms. Firstly, Afrophobia is a term used to describe the specificities of racism that targets people of African descent. Afrophobia seeks to dehumanise and deny the dignity of a large group of people.
Racism – I’m sure you all know what racism is but one can never be too sure so here ya go: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
Misogyny – If you don’t know the meaning then you’re probably not a feminist. In that case FOR SHAME! SHAME ON YOU PEASANT! (I’m joking, I’m jokiiiiiing or am I?) According to Merriam Webster, misogyny is the hatred of, aversion to or prejudice against women.
Misogynoir – Trusty old Meriam Webster says that misogynoir is coined as the hatred of, aversion to or prejudice against black women. It’s crazy how much vitriol black women receive from the rest of the world that we even got out very own term to describe the discrimination we are often exposed to.
White supremacist ideologies – the Britannica says that white supremacy refers to the beliefs and ideas purporting natural superiority of the lighter-skinned, or “white” human races of the lighter-skinned or “white” human races over other racial groups.
Imane Khelif vs the world.
I was disgusted by the scores of people berating Imane Khelif based off of her opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini’s suspicions. Everyone decided to go on a rampage and assault Imane Khelif based off of unconfirmed whims. It’s truly awful to be witnessing the nonsense unfold. I don’t like to talk much about racism because I think of it as a distraction. It usually involves a process of my continuously explaining my reason for being or explaining people of colour’s reasons for being. It’s a waste of time, really.
However, it has occurred to me that when women of colour are exceptional in a sport, especially more so than their white counterparts, there’s something automatically fishy about them. In 2020 Imane Khelif lost in the quarterfinals against an Irish participant named Kellie Harrington. No one cared then. It was all hush hush because a white person wasn’t bested nor did the white person cry the world a river. Imane Khelif has a record of 51 fights, 42 wins, 6 by KO and 9 losses. It’s impressive, but she’s not necessarily “dominating” women’s boxing. No one had anything to say about her wins until Angela Carrini opened up the floodgates. No really, she cried on national television and divided the world.
From Imane Khelif’s impressive record, we can surmise that her testosterone does not make her this unbeatable “monster” that society is making her out to be. She basically trained harder and hit her opponent harder. Not to mention the fact that she represents the country of Algeria. Algeria is a Muslim country, being transgender is illegal there so I’m sure they wouldn’t have sent a transgender athlete to represent their nation. I don’t know man, I’m not Einstein or anything but I think it’s pretty obvious.
The world did this to South Africa’s Caster Semenya a few years ago and today they are doing it to Imane Khelif. Have you noticed the connection between these athletes? Ding. Ding. Ding. They aren’t white. And they are usually Africans hence why I deem the world’s negative attitude to black athletes as well as their maltreatment, Afrophobic. How dare another race pummel a white person in the world’s largest athletics competition? GAAASP.
Eurocentric or westernised beauty standards vs female athletes of colour.
Femininity is extremely gendered. Black women are taken to be more masculine as compared to white women. Cheryl Cooky professor At Purdue University says that the definition of womanhood is often reliant upon westernised notions of white femininity or standards of white beauty. Because women of colour don’t necessarily follow said beauty standards they are met with indiscriminate scrutiny, vitriol and dehumanisation.
No one is a stranger to what happens when a woman of colour does not fit into the Eurocentric beauty standards. This is a great time to introduce featurism. Featurism is coined as the discrimination against a person for having larger facial features like noses and lips as well. This phenomenon affects people of colour, especially that of black women.
Imane Khelif does not have any eurocentric features therefore everyone is quick to dub her a man simply because she doesn’t fit a white person’s notion of womanhood. I was shocked that people were extremely quick to disparage her and drag her through the mud by picking apart her looks. From what I have come to find there’s no evidence that Imane Khelif is a man. None whatsoever. People took what was said by one woman who cried after getting socked once in a BOXING match at the OLYMPICS.
Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting who recently won her bout at the Olympics was also called a man because she doesn’t fit westernised beauty standards
Racism vs female athletes of colour.
Racism also plays a part into why Imane Khelif is being harassed the way she is by the world at the moment. Why? Well, it seems as though these controversies always surround black women who are exceptional in sports that are dubbed “predominantly white”. Whenever a woman of colour seems to have an upper hand against their white opponent, all hell breaks loose.
I remember scrolling through a post that was congratulating Simone Biles for her decorated triumphs and domination in the field of gymnastics. I found really heinous comments calling Simone Biles a man. They likened her to a man time and time again. I have said time and time again that black people always have to be exceptional in sports to earn their humanity otherwise they’re unimportant. Even if they are exceptional, racism always rears its ugly head. Female athletes of colour have historically faced disproportionate scrutiny and discrimination when it comes to sex testing and false accusations that they are male or transgender. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has discovered the trend that women from the Global South or other developing countries are affected by sex testing in sports.
Sexism vs female athletes of colour.
Sexism is yet another strong reason that contributes for the hullabaloo that is unfolding before our very eyes.
How could we forget our dear Caster Semenya who won an 800-meter race at the World Championships in 2009? After that win she was thrust into a legal battle for many years. She was cast out of the racing world for 11 months because of track and field rules about testosterone and a sporting board’s command to supress testosterone that was natural!
The world decided to ignore the fact that Caster Semenya was identified as a female at birth, raised as a girl and has been legally identified as a female her entire life. Caster Semenya has a number of conditions which are known as differences in sex development, or DSDs which causes NATURALLY high testosterone. NATURALLY. It’s not artificial. The World Athletics track and field’s governing body claimed that Semenya’s testosterone levels gave her a biological advantage that is comparable to a man competing in women’s events. One wonders if Caster Semenya’s naturally high testosterone can be considered a biological gift. I would consider it a gift, especially as an athlete. Why can’t it be regarded as having the gift of a basketball player’s height or a swimmer’s long arms…Michael Phelps cough, cough, cough.
I’m sure we’re all aware of the decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. His body was basically created for swimming. His biology is widely celebrated and respected. It’s regarded as a gift. Imane Khelif is a woman who allegedly has XY chromosomes and yet the whole world is absolutely appalled and up in arms because she has an alleged biological advantage.
Greg Nott, the director of Norton Rose Fullbright, the law firm that has been representing Caster in her challenge to World Athletics had something pretty profound to say, “The entire idea behind athletics and competitions such as the Olympics and so on is that they celebrate the natural abilities of individuals. So, what is happening to Caster — whose natural advantage is being called into question—actually goes against everything that athletics is supposed to stand for. She is being scrutinised for abilities that she did not gain through the use of any performance enhancers. To say that she should have to change herself in order to compete in what she wants to do is totally at odds with what athletics and world sport are supposed to be about.”
Francis Ngannou is a Cameroonian-French mixed martial artist and professional boxer who is speculated to have a genetic advantage over his peers. His advantages are celebrated. I’ll admit that there’s a lot of scrutiny on his end (might be because he’s black but I digress). Yoel Romero is also widely celebrated for his physical gifts in the UFC.
The Ugandan runner Annet Negesa who has hyperandrogenism like Semenya has also found herself fiercely scrutinised for her condition. Kenyan athlete Maximila Imali has also been fighting for acceptance from the elite athletics world since 2014—all due to sex differences and the way they were born. Women, especially women of colour’s genetic physical gifts are not celebrated like that of a man’s but are instead demonised.
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand faced similar scrutiny and backlash, so much so that she dropped out of the 2014 Commonwealth games. She underwent a slew of tests. She challenged the international track federation by taking them to court, claiming that it was unfair to enforce a limit to female athletes’ naturally occurring testosterone levels.
Stereotypes vs female athletes of colour.
Women of colour, especially black women have long since been subjected to stereotypes that dub them as more masculine. The world always finds a way to strip a black woman of her femininity and it’s no different in the sporting world. Serena Williams was subjected to blatant scrutiny and objectification after news was spread around the world claiming that she was a man. She was subjected to more testing than any athlete I can think of. The head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpischev even called her and her sister Venus the “Williams brothers”. Umm, jail.
White women tears vs female athletes of colour.
What are white women tears? White (women’s/girl) tears are theorized as a particularly “self-indulgent,” “narcissistic,” and “pernicious” manifestation of white fragility, via which white people have emotional responses that prevent them from engaging with the realities of whiteness and their role and complicity in racism (see also, racial stress, white comfort, white complicity; and white equilibrium).
If you don’t know white women tears just watch Angela Carini being punched and crying up a storm at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her tear theatrics were odd to me because she was at the OLYMPICS, the punches were bound to be absolutely and insanely hard. She cried at a boxing match because Imane Khelif was playing her part as an Olympic boxer by hmmm, I don’t know maybe boxing?
Angela Carrini’s tears literally split the world into two camps. One camp believes that Imane Khelif is a man or that she’s transgender. This camp is having a ball of a time denigrating her. It’s giving goofy. The other camp which includes me uses their logical brain to think and know how and why her being a man is impossible. And if my camp can’t use their big brains, we take it upon ourselves to do research before jumping on the bandwagon to literally disparage a woman by calling her man without a shred of evidence.
The first camp was backed up by big names like Piers Morgan, JK Rowling (as a potterhead that was really disappointing…*cries*) and Logan Paul to name but a few. These widely celebrated individuals (haha, not really) took to twitter or X to misgender poor Imane Khelif without utilising a shred of evidence aside from pictures from the match. ARE THEY NOT EMBARRASED?
White women tears have sent people of colour to prison or to meet their maker or sometimes even both. Some white women tears have put people out of jobs too. They are a superpower that even Scarlett Witch’s abilities can’t compare to.
So here’s the whole “when it’s all said and done” part, racism is honestly a complex and disgusting system I refuse to give power to. It’s 2024 people, crack open a book and catch up. I pray for a world where we can look beyond skin colour and celebrate all athletes equally and respectfully. I know that will take a heck of a long time but until then, I‘ll always ride at dawn to look out for people of colour because the world really is their biggest opp. I’ll make sure I always do research before spewing absolute cowdudu on the internet, a lesson which most of us need to learn…I mean honestly.
- The “Weird” Brown Girl.
SOURCES:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/05/what-is-misogynoir
You’ve got a keen eye for detail, like an eagle! I love how you break down complex issues in a clear and informative way. You have tackled a really important topic – the intersection of Afrophobia, racism, misogyny, and misogynoir. It’s so true that these toxic attitudes are behind the struggles black women face, and it’s heartbreaking to see how some people can’t handle losing to someone from a different racial background. The double standard is real – when a Black person loses, it’s seen as normal, but when a white person loses, they often try to justify their loss with excuses. We still have a long way to go as a society to overcome racism and uplift Black women. Thanks for sharing your insights and helping to educate us on this critical issue.