Beth Rigby interviews Iain Anderson

That tweet should come with a health warning. I felt it twist my mind into a knot of confusion, which I took a few moments to undo

I think Anderson would (wafflingly) identify as non-binary if asked a Yes/No question...

Yes, there has been an awful lot of damage done out here; and people having to live with the consequences. To do such drastic things to your body and yet you are still having to fight, continually, against the way you are perceived.
The collapse, or the dawning realisation, that one is not really what one thinks one is, and what one has been encouraged to believe.

Really existential stuff.

I think we have become so used to the general fawning of media interviewers and commentators on trans ("the most vulnerable community") that when someone asks some half decent questions we are falling over ourselves with relief to award an Oscar.

But there were numerous places where Beth really should have been a bit more paxmanesque and simply pressed Anderson for a Yes or No.

Is it reasonable for biological men like Lia Thomas to compete against biological women - yes or no?" And as soon as he started avoiding and waffling coming back to yes or no.

And to pick him up when he tried to imply that by having sex-segregated categories in sport that it means trans-identified people can't compete at all.

But let's hope that this emboldens other journalists and well done to Sky who aren't shying away from this issue like others.

To have a whiny no-mark like IW cast aspersions on her appearance, well fuck that, quite frankly. What has IW ever achieved except having meltdowns on social media and telly.

IW is also currently referring to Kathleen Stock as 'crossdressing' and calling Martina 'Martin-a' such are the vile depths IW will go to. Trashing women's looks on twitter is all IW has left. Screaming incoherently into the void as all these fantastic women live rent free in IW's head, morning, noon and night. Sad, sad individual.

However, I do think that IW and others have been sold a lie by Stonewall and it must be terribly distressing to see it all starting to fall apart. No, you are not a woman and yes, many people have been pretending you are, just to be kind. But the demands have gone too far now so just calm down and listen. As they say, go outside, touch some grass.

I am furious at the damage Stonewall has done, particularly to women and children. All those people who lost their jobs, single sex spaces and sports/awards whilst many of the rest live in fear of losing theirs because of wrongthink. It's time to bring it all out into the open now. If Stonewall stand by everything they've done, let them say so and explain themselves.

What they do is ask a question like "should trans people have rights?" which no one disagrees with and then use that to claim everyone is OK with males in female sports.

Apparently he should just have explained that females being able to beat other females isn't right either.

https://twitter.com/simonjedge/status/1682382750349684736

Strong suspicion it was conducted in Iain Anderson's head.

I tried a quick google, with no joy, but what/where is this recent survey that 96% women support trans rights?

IW should watch Sharron Davies addressing this on Triggernometry.

I watched the interview in full this morning. Beth was fantastic and really showed up all the waffly nonsense for exactly what it was. I've never watched her before but certainly would again. She got him to admit that there are indeed competing rights, and she made him look an utter fool when quoting back to him the Stonewall position about removing single sex exceptions and Nancy K's statement on lesbians being sexual racists. And that picture of Lia Thomas tells such a clear story. I'm not surprised there's been social media silence from Ian A/Stonewall today. What a disaster for them. I only hope that senior aides at Labour watch that and actually start talking to all stakeholder groups not just TRAs, but I'm not holding my breath.

Have you watched the Peter Boghossian series on NPR?

It is quite astounding.

Quuer Theory is predicated on achieving social change through linguistic manipulation.

Being aware of such obvious or sudden appearances of new terminolgy and phrases is well worth paying attention to.

Beth is brilliant in this interview, there were still a few little areas of Iain's face not profusely sweating, and I wish it had gone on for a little longer to remedy that, no matter, the man was a squirming gibbering wreck for all to see. As an aside, he would've done brilliantly on the old TV show 'Take Your Pick' where contestants mustn't say 'yes' or 'no'

I agree. I'm in the US. I've noticed for more than a year that anyone on NPR who has had media training consistently uses "folk". It means they don't have to commit to man or woman and it has a down-home, cosy feel that "people" doesn't have. The number of "pregnant folk" I've heard talked about is astonishing.

Katie Ledecky is one of the most accomplished athletes in history. She has no particular physical gifts (these things have been extensively measured during her career), she just works hella hard and has put in consistent effort living clean and training for decades.

To have a whiny no-mark like IW cast aspersions on her appearance, well fuck that, quite frankly. What has IW ever achieved except having meltdowns on social media and telly.

'I thought that was ground breaking. And rather than arguing or telling him how they might feel She kept on asking the same question. “How do you think women feel”. Brilliant.'

Totally agree. She did a great job of centring women's concerns throughout the interview

'He then falls back on the " we want everyone to live thier best and most fulfilling lives"blah blah blah'

Such absolute waffle. Disgraceful from someone in his position

...to which his one and only response, which he kept repeating, was that in surveys "most women support trans rights"; which Beth did a great job of picking up on by saying it was not a zero sum game; that women could care about trans rights and still want single sex spaces.

He then falls back on the " we want everyone to live thier best and most fulfilling lives" blah blah blah!

Yes, but this recent move towards the use that term is not only quite pronounced but actually seems quite calculated - and to my mind reflects its American origins.

I think it was very important how Beth him about the sportswomen’s feelings. Because up until that point it has always been about the men’s feelings, which are obviously of prime importance. Women’s feelings have not been considered before. I thought that was ground breaking. And rather than arguing or telling him how they might feel She kept on asking the same question. “How do you think women feel”. Brilliant.

The letter X avoids the sexism suggested by man and offers greater inclusivity and fluidity to genders beyond the male/female binary, such as for trans women or others who identify as women. Womxn is pronounced the same as woman or women.

https://www.wellandgood.com/folx-meaning/

Blimey, I'm glad I'm not in a job where Beth Rigby is ever going to interview me!

Amazing how she utterly skewered him whilst remaining calm and polite. The way he kept breaking into that unctuous smile in the hope that she would give up - and she never did.

Appalling at the end - basically saying that females should give up fair competition in order for Lia and others to be kept happy!

^Iain Anderson went on TV,
but was no match for Beth Rigby.^

The whole thing is fantastic BoiledBeetle. I'm just saving scrolling space by not quoting the whole post!

As for India W making derogatory comments about Katie Ledecky's appearance, I would have a lot more respect if she stopped saying she is more of a woman than women she considers don't look feminine enough. She did the same the other week with Sharron Davies and Martina Navratilova. It is absolutely horrible, and straight out of the Misogyny Rulebook