An Olympic-sized moral panic

Integrity of women’s sports is the new ethics in gaming journalism

2024 is a banner year for women’s sports, from college basketball where the women’s tournament “crushed” the men’s tournament in the ratings to increased investment and sponsorship in women’s leagues and teams. Today is the last day of the Olympic games, and at least here in the US, women athletes and competitions have dominated the coverage and America’s attention. There’s never been a better time to be a fan and supporter of women’s sports.

Unless you live in the MAGA Cinematic Universe…

The MAGA Right has gone all in harassing gold medalist Imane Khelif, a woman boxer who competed in the Olympics for Algeria, and spreading disinformation about her because they’d decided she was Transgender. She isn’t, but why would they ever let the truth stop them? I don’t really want to rehash the story here, but if you’ve somehow missed it, Vox has an explainer. But it’s worth noting that Algeria is not a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community and would not have sent a trans athlete to the Olympics, and the targeted harassment has likely made Khelif less safe in her own country. 

The folks obsessing over trans athletes claim that theirs is a fight for women’s sports and preserving the integrity of women’s sports. But the reality is none of these folks support women’s sports or even pretend to root for women athletes. August 1, the day the fervor around Kheif’s match happened, was an objectively exciting day for women’s sports in the U.S. Simone Biles had just won her second gold medal in the all-around, and her teammate Suni Lee won bronze. Swimmer Katie Ledecky won her 13th Olympic medal, claiming silver alongside her relay teammates. 

Except for Senator Blackburn tweeting congratulations to a constituent who won a swimming medal, I couldn’t find one tweet or statement from any of the MAGA electeds and influencers supporting or rooting for Team USA’s women athletes. Even Riley Gaines, an athlete herself, couldn’t stop tweeting about trans women in sports long enough to congratulate women athletes or root for Team USA. Shout out to Brandon Wolf, press secretary at Human Rights Campaign, whose tweet about JK Rowling’s own lack of interest in supporting women athletes inspired me to look into this.

But it’s not enough to say that the  MAGA Right ignores women’s sports. They actively root against women athletes. By now, we’ve all seen how J.D. Vance attacked Simone Biles in 2021, kicking a young woman down when she was undergoing a mental health crisis. He was hardly the only one, and there are multiple examples of MAGA coming for her at the time. (Sidenote: when I wrote about the attacks on Biles three years ago, I said that Vance’s “troll game is so lacking that I sometimes wonder if he’s actually a far-right chatbot rather than a person.” I still hold this view.)

Last year, when the US women’s soccer team lost in the World Cup, Trump and MAGA reacted with glee. They were thrilled to see a team that had won back-to-back World Cup Championships, successfully fought for equal pay with the US Men’s Team, and inspired girls across the country to lose. MAGA was rooting against America but also against women athletes and women’s sports. 

This continued MAGA moral panic is yet another example of just how out of whack their priorities are with most of us. Imane Khelif, Simone Biles, and athletes at all levels of competition want to play and compete. They didn’t sign up for MAGA’s culture wars, and they shouldn’t be subjected to the harassment and abuse that comes along with it. As Americans finally embrace women’s sports, part of that embrace needs to be having athletes' backs. We shouldn’t tolerate hate, harassment, or harm towards any athlete because of their gender, race, faith, or who they love. 

Here’s where I remind you that the MAGA Right is the minority. There are more of us than there are of them, and MAGA’s obsession with athlete’s genitals and hormone levels is just weird.

Most Americans enjoy women’s sports, root for women athletes, and are fueling their popularity. Most Americans realize that the existence of trans athletes isn’t a problem or a major issue that needs to be addressed or obsessed over. Most Americans root for American athletes and teams when they play on an international stage, as Kamala Harris and her supporters did in Las Vegas yesterday. Harris congratulated the men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams on their recent gold medal victories, and the crowd responded by breaking into chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

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ICYMI

Exposing the Real UK Race Riot Instigators: The Key Players and Transatlantic Network Around Tommy Robinson (Byline Times)

If you read one thing this week, it should be this: “This exclusive investigation by Byline Times shows how it has been enabled by a network of technology platforms and far-right organisations, with close ties to the Trump campaign, and especially to individuals who supported the January 6 riots, aimed at reversing Trump’s presidential election loss in 2020 – some of whom maintain direct ties to the Russian Government. ”

X Is Boosting the Far Right’s UK Riots as Telegram Scrambles for Control (Wired)

It’s also worth noting how social media, especially Twitter under Elon Musk, is adding fuel to the fire. A concern for those of us also worried about pre and post-election violence here in the U.S. 

J.D. Vance in Texts With Far-Right Figure: Profane and Off-the-Cuff (Washington Post)

I detest the headline, but the story of Vance and the company he keeps is important. Chuck Johnson is so much more than a "far-right figure." He's a hate peddler, holocaust denier, and conspiracy-monger.

Tips for Scholars Who Share Their Elections Expertise with the Public (Tech Policy Press)

This is written with academics in mind but it’s a helpful resource for anyone who engages with the press or online with content that could inflame the MAGA Right. 

Want even more links? Subscribers receive a special ICYMI edition of CARD on Fridays. 

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Coda

New Podcast Alert! Molly Conger, one of my favorite activists and chronicler of all things far-right, is out with a new podcast: Weird Little Guys. Each week she’ll tell the story of “one of the aspiring little Führers of the suburbs, men whose actions altered the course of the lives of their victims, their families, and their communities… but whose stories are ultimately lost in the shuffle of too many middle American Hitlers.” Molly knows her stuff, and she’s good at catching the most insane details. Her podcast promises to be a fun (if terrifying) listen. You can find Weird Little Guys wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks so much for reading and enjoying Ctrl Alt-Right Delete. A great way to support the newsletter is by becoming a paid subscriber. Contributions go directly to me and help me spend more time and energy writing and producing it each week. The newsletter will always be free to read, but paid subscribers get a bonus post with more ICYMI links.

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That’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next Sunday!