Imane Khelif’s is an inspirational story. She came from a small village in Algeria and had to collect scrap metal to earn enough money for the bus fare so she could commute to a nearby city to attend boxing training sessions. She didn’t just go through economic hardships; at the beginning stages of her interest in boxing, her father disapproved of her participation as it “was not for girls”.

Her story should be seen as a feminist story of overcoming hardships, but due to the visceral TERF rhetoric and media panic taking place on sites such as X, she was a victim of a misinformation campaign and a transphobic witch-hunt.  

This attack has been manufactured by Italian Angela Carini, who after 45 seconds decided to withdraw from the match claiming that she has never been punched “this hard”, implying that Khelif shouldn’t be competing in the women’s category.

Anna Luca Hamori, another of Khelif’s competitors, shared a post on Instagram speaking against her. While Khelif’s competitors should be seen as sore losers, their ability to do this comes from how the media created the anti-trans sentiment and gave it legitimacy. Public figures such as J.K Rowling were allowed to write manifestos and columns about how their bigotry is legitimate in the name of “women’s safety” and “preserving” women’s sports. None of those people care about women’s safety or women’s sports. They are just right-wingers that are trying to harm all women.

 We shouldn’t treat the attack on Khelif as an individualised story. Instead, we should see this as the symptom of a culture where transphobic beliefs are seen as valuable, and transgender rights are seen as a debate and not a human right.  

The racism that Khelif has experienced must also be addressed here. Right wing media and TERFs took the crocodile tears of two white women over the safety of a woman of colour. This attack on Khelif could have potentially put her in danger; Algeria is a conservative country where being queer is illegal. 

However, if not for their support of Khelif and denial of all lies about her, this story could have turned out differently. She could have been in a very dangerous situation, but the TERF movement doesn’t care about women’s safety – their primary goal was to villainise this woman.

Therefore, calling this a culture war issue is not enough. This has real life consequences on people’s lives and calling it a culture war feels like minimising the potential real life dangers people can experience due to online misinformation.

The attack on Khelif also exposes how TERFs and right-wing movements see women and their position in society. The belief that a woman participating in a sport that involves punching, punched someone too hard, and is therefore no longer a woman, is just a reaffirmation of the conservative belief that women should be small, weak and frail. Women deviating from that narrative, (especially women of colou) should be punished for it. 

Imane Khelif should be celebrated for her achievements. Not only did she win an Olympic gold, but she did it while experiencing hostility not only from her opponents but also from massive media platforms and politicians.

Her story should also act as a cautionary tale. Everyone should speak up for transgender rights – bigotry from TERFs and right wingers will not stop here, and will continue spreading towards all marginalised groups. The only way to stop that is through unity.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons