Gabrielle Lemos Garcia – the name definitely sounds like a beach promenade or flamenco dance. But «Gabi» Garcia is different. She (or he) is one of the most experienced fighters in full contact martial arts «Mixed Martial Arts».
If you can’t imagine what that means, the attached video is recommended – but with the warning that the film sequences are not for the faint-hearted.
The Brazilian Garcia, almost overflowing with male testosterone, takes on her unfortunate compatriot Barbara Nepomuceno and beats her up with every trick in the book. Just watching hurts – your bones seem to break under the wild fist punches.
The fight took place in Japan four and a half years ago. But he is more relevant than ever. He raises an issue that is also gaining priority in less martial sports: are “women” who were born in a man’s body allowed to compete in the female category?
In athletics, this is defined by a limit in testosterone levels. Because the intersexual track and field athlete Caster Semenya saw her dignity violated, she even got to the European Court of Human Rights. But the rule remained.
Clear boundaries are also drawn in swimming. The international federation excluded transgender athletes among women.
It is in keeping with the spirit of the times to howl at this practice and call for inclusion and equality. But in sport, these moral concepts fall short – far too short.
If you (or woman) might choose your gender freely and change the category more or less fluently, this would mean one thing above all: the end of women’s sport – and with it the end of one of the greatest achievements on the way to equality.