Women’s cycling now to be decimated/ women silenced

My teenage daughter has just started playing ladies hockey - a trans women scored three goals past them a couple of weeks ago, they were so strong and fast, it was grossly unfair. My daughter was gutted at the end, she said the game was pointless.

My other daughter rides downhill at regional level, I’d be horrified if a male rode in her category. She already has to compete in a sport where the ratio of men to women is about 30:1 - they all ride the same track and it already requires bravery and confidence to practice and race alongside the men. I can barely believe that British Cycling would support men actually taking over her female category too !

HSBC cancelled sponsorship of BC four years into an 8 year agreement, using a break clause. Said it was to do with saving money etc but the bad publicity surrounding the former doctor/jiffy bag/bullying issues won’t have helped.

I wish the women would just not turn up - all say they've got Covid or something and leave the males standing there on their own, just with the cycling bosses who have gagged them with threats if they speak out.

I believe HSBC have withdrawn BC sponsorship, they definitely have for the recreational programmes. It was some time ago, but I wonder whether nonsense like this will deter would be sponsors. It should do although companies like Lush and Body Shop may be happy to step in and trample over women's equality and dignity again.

Cheats should just fuck off in sport.

Slowly ruining every single sport for women. What's the point even training now if you're a woman

This thread is interesting on how trans athletes are presented in the media - standing alone, solitary and vulnerable.

Yes - trans people are the most oppressed, persecuted and murdered people ever* so the photos must reflect their victimhood.
*not actually true

This is so, so depressing. Some days I can't quite believe we're in this position where a male is competing in women's sport and it's endorsed by the sporting body. It's insane. And deeply misogynistic.

I have the same feelings, and I have to turn away from it sometimes because it's so depressing and gaslighting I start to feel I'm losing my mind. I'm reading Helen Joyce's book at the moment and while I'm familiar with most of what's in it, having it all laid out together in one place is so baffling and mind-screwing I can only read a few pages at a time. This book and others exist, with the facts laid bare and carefully checked. WTF are politicians and institutions doing? They're enacting a huge amount of harm to women, based on sheer nonsense that can't be backed up. I often just can't believe it.

They were talking about this on Jeremy Vine today. Both guest panelists said that TWAW and Shay Grewal said that she was OK with trans women competing in women's sport even after Jeremy Vine talked about the scientific physical differences between men and women and the advantages that men have.

It's so depressing and frustrating 😤

No Tom: it's "kindness" that got us into this unholy mess. I, for one, am clean out of kindness

Which female MP was it that told us to "pipe down" about men in women's sports? I think #pipedown is more honest than #bekind. It makes the point better. They don't want us to be kind, they just want us to shut up with our inconvenient truth - if you let men into women's sport, there is no women's sport.

www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2022/03/30/emily-bridges-riding-transgender-storm-whatever-happens-people/

Back page DT sports supplement. Bridges saying "I wanted to dress in a feminine manner but I'd always had such a deep sense of shame about it". I believed that everyone would hate me for stepping out of my masculine box and wearing dresses or make up.."

Yes Bridges, because dresses and make up are what makes you a woman. Perhaps I should trans having spent 90% of my life in trousers and without make-up.

The article's writer, Tom Cary, senior sports writer (who to be fair has backed the case for women in sport) finishes his article with "One can only hope whatever happens this weekend, and in the debate which ensues, people remember to be kind."

No Tom: it's "kindness" that got us into this unholy mess. I, for one, am clean out of kindness.

Popcorn

I'm just here for Catherine....

This thread is interesting on how trans athletes are presented in the media - standing alone, solitary and vulnerable.

twitter.com/MirandaNewsom/status/1352635083887431687?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1352635083887431687%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Because when they're pictured with team mates/women the size difference is so obvious.

This is Emily.

This is so, so depressing. Some days I can't quite believe we're in this position where a male is competing in women's sport and it's endorsed by the sporting body. It's insane. And deeply misogynistic.

I cancelled my British Cycling membership because of their approach to trans (male to female) cyclists. I'd encourage others to do the same.

Cynically I wonder if they think it will help the medal tally and therefore government funding.

A question publicly posed to HSBC (main sponsor of BC) might get interesting responses.
Similarly to DCMS.

[quote ControversialOpening]Dame Laura Kenny is the best women's cyclist this country has even produced

Sorry, can’t let this one slide:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton[/quote]
Ooh thank you! And apologies to Beryl. What an amazing athlete. Gosh she died so young :(

So Bridges, along with study leader Joanna Harper, know the result they want to achieve.

This is so important. Trans athletes know just exactly how much effort or not to put in. They win when it is important and can be surprisingly slow when it is not.

O s

Dame Laura Kenny is the best women's cyclist this country has even produced

Sorry, can’t let this one slide:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-cycling-policy-on-transgender-athletes-discriminates-against-women-km7skv6r3

Another Times article 'British Cycling policy on transgender athletes ‘discriminates against women’'

It seems a fairly straightforward sex discrimination policy to me, if males are allowed higher levels of testosterone than females. Have I misunderstood?

'British Cycling last updated its rules surrounding transgender athletes in January, detailing trans athletes need to have their testosterone below five nanomoles per litre for a year to compete against other women.

Men typically have between 10 and 30 nanomoles per litre depending on age and time of day. But a young healthy male's level of testosterone will range from 20 to 30, compared with a female's range of 0.7 and 2.8, according to the NHS'

It's so screamingly unfair. A male can have around twice the testosterone a female can, and that's just fine, is it?

At what level does a woman get penalised for 'doping' with testosterone, does anyone know?

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/60911823?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Dame Laura Kenny is the best women's cyclist this country has even produced. She's our most successful female Olympian. I'm hoping that bridges competing against her will wake people up to this disgraceful cheating

We're heading towards the Brave New World where we have two categories:

Male sports
&
Mediocre male sports

Budge up ladies, you've had quite enough equality & freedom, now it's time that the poor deserving average dude gets women's his due of accolades & prizes.

See also: every other female space, service, language & human right.