Episode 151: Olympic ’Gender Verification’ Meltdown

In this emergency episode, Nathan is joined by friend and colleague Celeste Orr (in person!) to deconstruct the rightwing meltdown over the defeat of Italian welterweight boxer Angela Carini by Algerian Imane Khelif. The discussion situates the controversy by tracing the history of gender verification, delving into the science of sex, gender, and sport, and recounting the similarly racist treatment of Caster Semanya. We then move on to explore why the incident proved so 'controversial' in the current context of surging global fascism and what the implications are both politically and for the experiences of trans people.

Celeste Orr is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Wendy J. Robbins Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of New Brunswick. Their research focuses on intersex studies, disability studies, and queer studies, among other broad areas, and they are the author of the 2022 book Cripping Intersex with UBC Press.

 

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