Panem et Circenses

[DISCLAIMER]

In high school, I attended a Dallas Cowboys game while wearing a Dallas Stars hat given to me by my girlfriend. In actuality, I wasn’t a fan of either sports team. Rather, the only teams I supported were the Chicago Bears and the Colorado Buffaloes.

Long since passed that period in life, generally speaking, I don’t care about sports any longer. In fact, I consider much of what I observe in association with sporting events as little more than bread and circuses. Regarding this matter, one source states:

“Bread and circuses” (or “bread and games”; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal (Satires, Satire X), a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century AD, and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.

In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace, by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).

Juvenal originally used it to decry the “selfishness” of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population’s erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.

Bearing in mind that I’m a professional practitioner of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I remind myself not to demand that others shouldn’t, mustn’t, or oughtn’t to enjoy sports. As well, I don’t endorse low frustration tolerance by claiming that I can’t stand sports.

Additionally, I don’t use awfulizing by irrationally convincing myself that it’s terrible or horrible that others may not share my bread and circuses perspective. Moreover, I refrain from use of global evaluations which claim that sports are shitty and sports fans are worthless.

After all, there are some sporting events to which I infrequently pay attention. Women’s volleyball isn’t off-putting to me. I’ve also watched clips from various Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts. Also, from time to time, I’ve viewed competition shooting matches.

Likewise, I’ve written about sports within my blog. As an example, on August 1, 2024, I posted a blog entry entitled Equal Rights, Equal Fights in which I stated:

Male-to-female trans individuals generally have an unreasonable advantage over biological females in many Olympic events (e.g., boxing). Thus, it’s irrational to propose that women can contend with men when considering upper body strength and fast-twitch muscle fiber differences.

This remains valid even if one’s opponent doesn’t identify as trans and is instead classified as intersex. If a female-identifying intersex individual retains more masculine features (i.e., muscularity, testosterone, etc.), one’s opponent may have a significant advantage in regard to competition.

According to one source, “Italian Angela Carini threw in the towel after just two punches from her opponent Imane Khelif - who was banned from the world championships after being deemed ‘biologically male’.” Equal rights, equal fights? I argue not.

A separate source states, “The clash between the 25-year-old and her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif lasted just 46 seconds, with Carini yelling ‘this is unjust’ before she fell to canvas and wept having had her Olympic dreams snatched away from her.” This bout between the two competitors was based on irrationality.

In the field of mental, emotional, and behavioral health, clinicians disagree on matters related to Khelif and those of similar sociopolitical identity. Personally, I maintain that it’s irrational (not in accordance with both logic and reason) to believe that there’s no such thing as sex differences.

Further, I posit that it’s no matter of kindness not to speak truth. Rather, I consider lying about males being able to transition into females (and vice versa) as little more than secularly evil. Expanding upon the topic of Khelif, I stated in a blogpost entitled Sex Matters (August 2, 2024):

Pitting a biological female in a physical fight against an ambiguously-gendered individual may have real-world consequences other than what is typically considered a fair fight. Nevertheless, what one considers “fair” may be as subjective as what gender one assumes.

Of course, I’m not the only individual to raise concern about this issue. According to Sex Matters:

The International Olympic Committee’s media briefing on 2nd August was dominated by questions about the eligibility of boxers in the women’s competition. Algerian Imane Khelif had won an opening bout in 46 seconds, amid concerns that Khelif is male.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams was asked how the IOC planned to “stop this wave of negative press regarding both these two boxers and also the potentially unfair competition that affects the other boxers”.

His answers showed a complete disregard for the second part of that question, implying that neither safety nor fairness can come before male inclusion.

Rather than parroting typical feminist talking points or white-knighting on behalf of females, girls, and women, I’m arguing a case for rationality. Sexual ambiguity, intersex, or trans individuals competing in physical matches against females or males may lead to significant consequences.

People may disagree with my stance on moral and ethical grounds, as I understand how individuals often maintain many delusional perspectives. Nevertheless, I’m not debating the good, bad, right, or wrong merits of this matter.

Even though I’ve expressed that lying is evil, matters of righteousness versus evil have little to do with the subject matter herein. On average, males competing against females have an advantage that’s unfair (marked by injustice, partiality, or deception). This is factual.

As a matter of fact, one source now reports, “Under its new policy, all athletes over the age of 18 who wish to compete in a World Boxing event will need to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic test to assess their eligibility.” This is a matter of science.

In response to the new PCR testing announcement, one source reports, “Imane Khelif, the boxer at the center of the Olympic gender controversy, is skipping a boxing tournament in the Netherlands after World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes.” Why so?

For some people, there’s little utility for science which aims to understand the natural world through systematic observation, experimentation, and analysis. Why build a body of knowledge about the universe and improve our understanding of the world around us anyway?

After all, there are panem et circenses to consider. Right? Besides, when bickering about whether or not it’s sensible for males to compete against females, the state of Israel is still likely committing a genocide or ethnic cleansing in regard to the people of Gaza. Game on! Right?

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Bhatia, S. and Cotterill, T. (2024, August 1). Italian boxer Angela Carini says ‘I quit to save my life’ after stopping Olympics bout with ‘biologically male’ opponent Imane Khelif just 46 seconds into first round. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13698519/angela-carini-quit-save-life-stopping-olympics-imane-khelif.html

Cotterill, T. (2024, August 1). Olympian Sharron Davies rages that games chiefs are ‘allowing women to be beaten up by men’, Liz Truss asks ‘when will this madness stop? and JK Rowling slams ‘bullying cheat’ after ‘biological male’ Imane Khelif wins 46-second games fight. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13697831/olympian-sharron-davies-rages-allowing-woman-beat-men.html

De Guzman, C. (2025, June 5). World boxing apologizes to Imane Khelif after announcing new sex-testing policy. TIME. Retrieved from https://time.com/7291342/world-boxing-sex-testing-policy-imane-khelif-gender-olympics-controversy/

Hollings, D. (2024, August 7). Awfulizing. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/awfulizing

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Morik, R. (2025, June 5). Controversial boxer Imane Khelif skipping competition following World Boxing's new mandatory sex testing. FOX News. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/sports/controversial-boxer-imane-khelif-skipping-competition-following-world-boxings-new-mandatory-sex-testing

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