Consequences of the moral panic over transgender athletes

It is no accident that amongst the women athletes who have had their gender questioned the vast majority have been women of colour

- CONRAD KUNAL BARWA

Dissenters' Corner he outline of the controversy around Imane Khelif's participation in the Paris Olympics and accusations of her being a man, steeped in both transphobia and misogyny, have proven to be extremely damaging to all the individuals involved. It has revealed the still-ugly debate about the inclusion and status of transgender people, this time in sport, a debate which is characterised by blatant dishonesty, ulterior motives, and media manipulation. It has also exposed the mileage that is to be gained by mining the deep seams of latent and not-solatent transphobia that exist, and the benefit derived from turning it into a veritable moral panic about gender roles in society. Most importantly, it demonstrates that while a simple gender binary is inherently unstable and needs to be transcended to allow the fair inclusion of transgender people; the very prospect of this evokes hysteria and fear amongst those unwilling to accept this fact.