In which I observe a totally noninvasive proxy sex test

Could the IOC care less about this athlete? That athlete is female. Is the IOC shouting themselves hoarse that this athlete is "eligible for the female category?" Male, 100%

Are you confused enough about the sex of Olympic boxers? This will nudge you on your way to crazyland. While the IOC has worked their PR staff to the bone and stretched already thin credibility yowling that XY boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting are “eligibile to compete in the female category,” a “transman” boxer in the female category has gone completely under the radar. No press conferences. Zero media attention. The IOC is spending exactly no energy defending this athlete’s eligibility. Why? This boxer, Hergie Bacyadan, from the Philippines, is a female who identifies as male (a trans man) but has not started on testosterone and competes in the female category. The IOC does not have anything to say about why Bacyadan is not competing in the male category, nor why they are not loudly defending Bacyadan’s choice as a “trans man” to compete in the female category. Much like mid-distance runner Nikki Hiltz, a female who identifies as male competing without testosterone in the female category. That’s because the IOC knows, Hiltz knows, Bacyadan knows that sex matters in sports, though they are tying themselves in knots trying to support an ideology that ignores that reality.

The IOC knows Bacyadan and Hiltz don’t require defending, and they know Khelif and Yu-ting do require all the PR weight they can muster. Because those boxers are male. The IOC could care less about women of all stripes, including those who identify as male or nonbinary like Hiltz and Bacyadan. In fact, a very accurate proxy sex test is whether or not the IOC pays attention and loudly defends the athlete—not a peep from the IOC? That’s a woman. Ever louder protestations and herculean PR efforts peevishly claiming that the individual in question is “eligible to compete in the female category?” 100%, that person is male. Example: the IOC had to know way back in 2009 that Caster Semenya was a completely androgenized male with a DSD, and should have been compassionately told he was not eligible for the female category. Instead, the IOC ignored the results of those tests, continuously and loudly promoted Semenya as female, in which category he would still be racing if it was up to the IOC. (World Athletics ruled that DSD athletes must reduce their testosterone to 2.5 nmol/liter, which Semenya has refused to do). The IOC only cares about men—men’s feelings, fairness for men, inclusion of males with DSDs and trans-identified men in women’s sport. That’s where they’re putting all their efforts. That’s why they stopped doing cheek swab testing—because it actually did flag the males the IOC was determined to allow into women’s sports. They could end the boxer controversy with a quick and noninvasive cheek swab test, but that would show they are XY, male, so they claim there’s no need for a sex test.

While I’ve seen a hair-tearing volume of patently false reporting on the two boxers, the situation has also produced some of the best writing ever on the fallout of the IOC’s disastrous policies, gender ideology, and Differences of Sexual Development and sports eligibility. Also, I’m going on vacation and will not be packing my brain. Instead, please listen to Ross Tucker’s podcast and follow his X account, read Doriane Coleman’s piece in Quillette, Tommy Lundberg’s thread on X, David Handelsman’s journal article defining sport sex, and two essays by Colin Wright on Reality’s Last Stand. We’ll discuss when I get back.