Clare Balding throws women under the bus

Oh and if course, great post powershower, perhaps add in a question about the jockey allowance for female riders in France too? 😜

Really disappointed to read this, I’m another in the racing industry and had a lot of respect for her as it’s a bloody tough industry for a woman to make it in.

I used to have a lot to do with her mother, in a professional capacity, and her father once perved at me at an industry dinner, though if the rumours are true (spoiler - they are!) I was by no means the first or last.

So disappointing as I really like Claire Balding! Love @powershowerforanhour's post! Really wish Claire would read that and hopefully change her thought processes.

I am disappointed in her. She likes dogs. I feel she should have a bit more common sense

Same here. What a fool she is for endorsing cheating men in sport.

OMG, that Fennel and Twiglet book is for real!

Thank goodness I can turn off any programme she presents now. I’ve never thought she was particularly good, she knows next to nothing about most sports, but I always felt that I ought to support any woman that manages to survive in such a Male area of TV, so was torn.

I can’t stand that Ramblings thing she does on R4, last year she was on the TV and two different radio stations simultaneously, it was like being in the middle of a bad dream. She has taken over from Martin Jarvis as the voice of BBC Radio 4. They even had a play about her, with her ‘acting’ in it.

Is this an old interview? I thought the whole ‘well some swimmers have long arms and big feet’ was tried and laughed out of the room when Sharron started speaking out. I even remember ranting in Sainsbury’s one morning at one idiot being interviewed.

I think she’s missed a trick here : the tide is turning and Sharron et al will be the go-to voices. Commentators who have pinned their colours to the selfID mast are going to have to do some nifty back peddling.

I had my suspicions when I heard a ramblings when she went out with lgb(heavy on the T) kids and teens group ‘my name is blah and my pronouns are bleugh...’

Blurb for one of her books (which are squarely aimed at girls). I award her a .

"Fennel and Twiglet are best friends. They do everything together, from curling up in their basket to playing fetch in the park. Twiglet understands Fennel like no one else, especially her life-long dream of winning Crufts.
There's just one problem: Fennel isn't a dog. And a girl can't win a competition for dogs, no matter how much she acts like one."

Is she on Twitter? And if so has anyone tried to get her to engage?

I think the point is that there are all kinds of things in sport that give people an advantage. So if you look at the line up for the sprint events most competitors will be people of colour. Most. And long distance running is dominated by people from east Africa iirc. Mostly.

But if you lined up people in order of time for the 100m regardless of sex the line up would be exclusively male. And the next line-up and the next and the next, as far as the eye could see. You'd have white men, asian men, short men, tall gangly men...hundreds and hundreds, thousands of them, before you got to the fastest woman.

That is what we are talking about. Not an advantage. A gamechanger. It is not the same as Michael Phelps' floppy ankles or whatever. Obviously. And everyone knows that.

I interpreted that differently. Ie. She’s saying that men should get involved in the debate, to discuss how they feel about the situation. By saying they have bigger feet etc, she’s agreeing that they should not participate in women’s sport.

Mockers.

As a BBC producer she is supposed to be neutral on controversial topics. Cf Jenny Murray.

Now horse raving is something I’d go and watch.

It's called Dressage.

I didn't and won't comment on her knowledge of horse raving as it isn't a sport I follow

Now horse raving is something I’d go and watch.

This is very disappointing. There seems to be a trend of women in positions of power who are wealthy and will never have to access women only spaces, are wokeing-out and abandoning the rest of us because they think it will make them 'on the right side of history' and 'they don't want to be one of those awful terfs.'

I wish they would use take a step back, engage their empathy and use some critical thinking skills. I'm so grateful every time a woman in power speaks up about this and defends our rights.

And (although unlikely) what if Michael Phelps decided to self ID. He has a pretty significant advantage over other men, he'd take out women's swimming easily.
This argument over the outliers of physical ability is like the proverb of not being able to see the splinter for the plank in your eye.

That's disappointing. I also like Clare - notwithstanding the 'teeth shaming' comment was definitely not her finest moment and made me wince - and her wife Alice Arnold is also an admirable woman and well-respected journalist. Of course she isn't obligated to defend the whole contentious issue issue of trans women in women's sport because she happens to be a lesbian and the discussion falls tacitly under the remit of the LGBT+alphabet-soup umbrella. And it can be very difficult to put your head above the parapet: just look at the backlash endured by Holmes, Davies and Navratilova.

It's unfortunate, though, because a sportswoman of Balding's credentials could have had so much to add that's of value in an era where the survival of women's sport has been called into question. It seems surprising, given the ground on which this battle is being fought is one of homophobia and misogyny, both of which she's had directed at her in the past. She took stick for her personal appearance that no man would ever have had to negotiate. But if she's introducing programmes with her preferred pronouns it tends to suggest where she stands on this particular case.

Which is of course her right. But it's unfortunate, nonetheless.

@ShesDressedInBlackAgain

I heard her on 'Ramblings' on R4 recently walking with an LGBT youth group and she started the programme with 'my name is Clare and my pronouns are she/her'. Pointless fucking virtue signalling since I have never heard her start another programme with that.

Yes, absolutely. It's akin to calling yourself a ciswoman. Totally unnecessary pandering to the woke folk.

powershower I love your post

Seconded! I love MN. A woman on here always turns up with the knowledge, no matter what the topic!

I heard her on 'Ramblings' on R4 recently walking with an LGBT youth group and she started the programme with 'my name is Clare and my pronouns are she/her'. Pointless fucking virtue signalling since I have never heard her start another programme with that.

I would imagine she gets hired to commentate on other sports because she is a well known and likeable face.

Since being well known and likeable is a major part of what she's selling it's not that surprising that she'll say anything that protects that image. It's brand positioning.

I am disappointed in her. She likes dogs. I feel she should have a bit more common sense.