British Cycling doubles down

So if you volunteer for British Cycling's Breeze programme you'll have got the email newsletter. They now want us to promote cervical screening on breeze rides, which is comical as breeze rides are now mixed sex and allow any male to join a ride or even lead a ride, even though they're advertised as "women only" and "female led". Unfortunately British Cycling hasn't provided any training in health promotion for us volunteers, even though we're expected to encourage women to get smear tests, no answers to questions about smear tests or any training in how to deal with it if women are upset by it. Despite far far larger numbers of women being killed by smoking every year, they don't want us to tell Breeze participants just stop smoking.

We've got to sign a volunteer agreement every year to lead the rides and there's a compulsory question where you've got to say you "identify as female". Even the new BC policy defines gender as "the social, and cultural construction of what it means to be masculine or feminine, including roles, expectations, and behaviour" - so stereotypes! Yet they expect us to subscribe to these stereotypes to lead a 'women only ride', or just lie and say we subscribe to them at least. I despair.

It gets better though, because in the same email British Cycling are inviting questions about their new transgender policy. This is the policy that British Cycling will discipline us if we raise any concerns about. They claim questions will all be submitted anonymously, but they're going to the compliance team who are the people who will discipline us for asking them. Despite us volunteers being directly affected by this policy, they haven't told us a thing about the results of the public consultation which happened last year or the year before. I can't imagine this will be any different, but it might be a good time for anybody who wants to say anything about the policy to get in touch with British Cycling, you might want to do this anonymously. You can see the British Cycling transgender policy at the end of the new British Cycling 2022 handbook and contact details on this page

www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20220127-about-bc-news-An-update-on-our-Transgender-and-Non-Binary-Participation-Policy-0

Sorry. That ‘it’ should not be at the start of that post.

It is British cycling prepared to sacrifice the women for the sake of the star that is supposedly going to land in their lap after the prerequisite time on hormones is up?

From what I have read, and seeing their double down, I wouldn’t put it past them. To go for the glory using the rules to assist them. They know it is now just a matter of time before a new star will come into the team.

If I was a female on team GB cycling now, I would be feeling very unsupported and exposed.

I hope British Cycling are looking at what Lia Thomas is doing for swimming and looking carefully at their own policies and what could be the result of them. Does anyone with a brain and a heart really want to see top female cyclists like Laura Kenny being beaten by somebody male?

Thank you!

[quote Slidey23]@CatsOperatingInGangs that link goes to an intro clip for WRN.[/quote]
Apologies, here it is.

Accept all Participants in the gender they present; verification of their identity should be no more than expected of any other person;

I agree with the second part of this sentence. Most people race in the women's races because they are obviously women. They don't have any further checks. An obvious man turning up and saying he is a woman should be excluded because using the same straightforward check.

@CatsOperatingInGangs that link goes to an intro clip for WRN.

Just seen this on Twitter. More good stuff from the Womens Rights Network, looks like there’s a focus on sport for them. Two of the women speaking are (ex?) British Cycling members

youtube.com/channel/UCVFm-5smU7mNREPXtT78Jvw

[quote DazzlePaintedBattlePants]@HowToCookAWolf Just read your forum post. Wonder how you would have got on if you posted your thread on YACF?![/quote]
Sorry, missed this. My original post was of course removed – pretty sure they wouldn't like the new improved one either! (At the risk of painting a large target on myself, here's that link again.) I've also been banned from a different cycling forum for merely complaining about the deletion of a thread about sex and gender.

If any cycling enthusiasts here are looking for a place not overrun by gender zombies, feel free to stop by. Some of you may have already been, in a sense, as I like to quote people who articulate the issues well, and this board in particular has been a gold mine. A recent example from @RoyalCorgi: "Let's remember that babies are people too! So instead of talking about 'women giving birth to babies', we should talk about 'people giving birth to people'. That would make everything clearer."

Not being a mum I can't say I was radicalised by motherhood, so yes, Justine's brainchild is mostly to blame for my reawokening.

Thanks @PenStation, though hopefully I made it clear that I was quoting somebody and didn't write that particular bit myself.

Great post @HowToCookAWolf thank you

As a member of the LGBT+ community for many years, this part especially resonated...

What it always comes down to though is that the LGB movement genuinely supported loving yourself as you were, that you could be who you are, in the body that you have, loving the people that you do, and that it was OK, that it was innate, that it was normal. Accepting same-sex attraction requires that everyone change absolutely nothing. A woman dating another woman affects no one but the two people in a relationship, unless you're simply morally outraged. The trans lobby instead tells you that if your mind doesn't fit a certain criteria, based on literally anything, then you need to change yourself. It pushes that it's normal to hate your body, and that to love your body, you need medication, surgery, and treatment for life. It normalizes self hate in the guise of self acceptance.

It's a really different mindset now amongst some. It feels so freeing to love yourself and others as they are and I don't feel that this spirit has gone away entirely. We need to reclaim it.*

I hope that’s the case because it probably indicates he know what a shit show is going to follow him if BC put a man into womens elite racing.

*previous, not precious!

The current and precious CEO’s are not cyclists and don’t come from a cycling background and don’t have a clue - they come from other sports, as do the management team. Rugby, golf, sailing, modern pentathlon etc. They have never raced, organised a race, or refereed a race, which should be a prerequisite.
The board is a mixture of appointed and elected members. The appointed outnumber the elected.
The organisation has changed - it’s no longer run by cyclists for cyclists. Staff turnover is really high at all levels, employees, management, coaching and sport science. Apparently the guy in charge of legal/governance etc is also on his way out - dunno if he decided to go or was helped on his way.

@HowToCookAWolf Just read your forum post. Wonder how you would have got on if you posted your thread on YACF?!

Well remember we have had a cycling mum on our boards telling us this was going to happen and how proud she was to fight for her ‘daughter’s’ right to compete as a female.

Well, I assume it was that rider we cannot mention for fear of deletion’s mum. The one who is probably GB cycling’s medal hope after they fell behind in the men’s team.

Let’s look at the motivation at the elite level. A champion male is likely to be already in their sights as a female competitor, they are just waiting the time period out.

The way to challenge it will be through the money, BC gets boatloads of cash from Sport England and the Lottery and if you put pressure on those organisations you might get more traction. BC has a horrific record of shitting all over women - Shane what’s his face, and the refusal to acknowledge and support women cyclists who were streets ahead of their male counterparts.

I left yet another cycling forum because they are a bunch of misogynistic dicks. There’s a vocal trans member on there who was demanding they were searched by a female member of staff at airport security, and worked in the civil service and appeared to be instrumental in removing sex segregated toilets, all to cheers from the peanut gallery in that forum. And yet they prided themselves on “being excellent”. Only to the bepenised folk, it would appear.

This applies to all current and prospective British Cycling Members who wish to take part in British Cycling Recreational Activities.
Recreational Activity includes the Breeze programme, Guided Ride, Ride Social and Let’s Ride activities

You don't even need to be a member to take part in Breeze, Guided or Ride Socials. You can sign up on the letsride website and register for rides free, no need to join BC. In fact you can even just turn up to the ride without registering, but there are restrictions on numbers so ride leaders can turn you away based on that.

Breeze is advertised as "women-only" and even "female-lead rides" but it's been accepting men who say they identify as women since at least 2017. There are no checks - the policy has always been that everyone must accept anyone who claims to be female with no question. There are women (the female kind!) who don't come to Breeze rides anymore since they found out.

I understand out of those activities all are mixed sex apart from the Breeze programme which is women only to encourage more women into cycling. So according to that policy thief women only programme is in fact mixed sex.

Anything, anything at all which is female only, usually designated thus to address sexism, is now transphobic and discriminatory. All of it.

There’s always a focus on competitive sports when we talk about these policies but for me, it’s what’s happening in grassroots/recreational sport that’s important. So what does the BC policy say about that?

“5. Recreational Activity
Cycling should be enjoyed by everyone, and in accordance with this policy, British Cycling encourages Transgender and Non-Binary participants to take part in Recreational Activities in the gender they identify as.
As there is no competitive element to Recreational Activities, all participants are able to take part in British Cycling sanctioned recreational activities in accordance with their Gender Identity, without the need to provide any additional information or evidence.
This applies to all current and prospective British Cycling Members who wish to take part in British Cycling Recreational Activities.
Recreational Activity includes the Breeze programme, Guided Ride, Ride Social and Let’s Ride activities.“

I understand out of those activities all are mixed sex apart from the Breeze programme which is women only to encourage more women into cycling. So according to that policy thief women only programme is in fact mixed sex.

I thought similar @Goatsaregreat

They think women are there to service males, even women who are Olympic medallists and World Champions www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/31/lizzie-armitstead-becomes-latest-rider-to-accuse-british-cycling-of-sexism

Note the quote from the Mail article linked above:
British Cycling said: 'We will never accept racism, homophobia or transphobia Yet they're dripping in sexism and anti women rhetoric, disbanding women's cycling without a second thought.