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The Chauvinist/Gender Theorist Alliance

The boxing debacle in Paris has cast an embarrassing spotlight on the IOC’s willingness to embrace nonsensical gender theory.

· 6 min read
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, at a podium with a water bottle, speaking.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, speaks to the media in a press conference on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at the Main Press Centre on 9 August 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by George Mattock/Getty Images)

When International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach declared that his organisation can’t define a woman, it wasn’t a huge surprise to those who have followed this issue closely. But more casual observers will probably need an explanation. At the heart of that explanation is a peculiar alliance between academic advocates of gender theory and old-fashioned male chauvinists in sports governance. But how has this alliance come about? And why does it compel someone like Bach to deliver nonsensical public statements?

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