What is DSD? The condition at the heart of the Imane Khelif boxing gender test scandal

Transcript

00:00Women's boxing has been dominating the headlines this week,

00:02with one boxer's name being thrown around a lot, Iman Khalif.

00:06There's a lot of controversy surrounding Khalif's gender eligibility,

00:09and essentially whether she should be allowed to compete in the women's category.

00:13So why is that?

00:14Well, it's highly suspected the female boxer has DSD,

00:18meaning differences in sexual development.

00:20Some people assigned female at birth but born with DSD

00:23have often naturally higher testosterone levels than the average cisgender woman.

00:27So in the case of female athletes like Khalif,

00:29this can give them an advantage when competing against women with lower testosterone levels.

00:34But this argument can quickly become tricky.

00:37Some people say that it's discriminatory and unfair,

00:39that people born with DSD can't help it and shouldn't be excluded from sport.

00:43Others argue that the risk to the female athletes they're competing against

00:46is too great and could lead to serious injury.

00:49This difference in opinion can clearly be seen in Khalif's case.

00:52Last year, she was disqualified from the Women's World Championships

00:55after failing her gender eligibility test.

00:58It's important to note that Khalif does not identify as either transgender or intersex.

01:03However, when it came to the Olympics,

01:04the International Olympic Committee ruled that

01:06Khalif complied with the competition's rules and regulations.

01:10So what do you think?

01:11Should athletes with DSD be allowed to compete as normal,

01:13or should regulations be put in place?