”Mäns makt över kvinnor” Kvinnor, sport och diskurser: Imane Khelif, OS 2024

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss what took place during the Summer Olympics of 2024. when a born-and-raised Algerian woman, Imane Khelif, found herself in the midst of a heated debate, led by several powerful actors — a debate on whether or not it was fair that “a man” was allowed to use their force and power against “real” women in sports. Khelif, a boxer, found herself in what can only be described as a gender-controversy after a win against her appointment on the 1st of August, 2024, after inquiries and scrutiny over her “real gender” came to occupy the agenda. This paper aims to discuss how the category of woman, and the norms surrounding it, is a narrow and often excluding category. What discourses can be found within the very gender that is woman? And can we find that there are norms outside of gender norms that makes the category so excluding? What can we learn about the construction of gender from applying a discourse analysis on what said about her gender between the 1st of August to the 14th of August, through posts on the social media platform X, as well as what was said in newspapers during the heat of the debate concerning Khelif’s identity?