Kathleen Stock, Vogue & Bridges - the perfect Sunday morning read

Thanks.

Thanks for sharing MrsO.

I'm a completely sports numpty, but in the year the lionesses reached the World Cup final and even I am aware of it, it's boggling that Vogue chose to champion Emily.

Even I'm aware of the fact that female football players suffer unnecessary injuries because football boots are designed for male feet, and the players are unable to speak out due to fears of losing sponsorship www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12910076/female-football-boots-could-be-revolutionised-after-findings-reveals-82-per-cent-of-players-suffer-regular-discomfort Even I'm aware that fans of England goalie Mary Earps had to fight for a replica of her kit to be made available (to those who are mostly grassroots girl players, I'd have thought). www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/24/mary-earps-and-other-female-goalkeeper-shirts-to-go-on-sale-after-nike-u-turn

But Emily's 'needs' are more important, apparently.

@dimorphism i look forward to reading your excellent proposal in The Times! 😉

Late to the party but that was a great article. I love Doc Stock's writing. Clear, readable and entertaining, and very unlike the verbiage that is all so many academics can manage!

Positively Swiftian dimorphism 👏👏👏

Agree. The protection of women's sport has to start grassroots level.

Maybe our strategy from this point SHOULD be to suggest we 'diversify' the male or open competition by allowing cheetahs (for sprinting), what other animals are being unfairly discriminated against due to out and out bigotry? Gazelles for the high jump perhaps? Those men just aren't trying hard enough and should work harder.

The concerns about safety are totally overblown (i.e. it's only a few men who were clawed /eaten).

Silverback gorillas are 98% genetically identical to humans so it's completely fair for them to wrestle / box with human men.

@MissBiljanaElectronika thank you for your explanation. I understand your points.
I still wonder though, whether by focusing so much on penises, KS might inadvertently suggest that a transwoman withOUT a penis can compete as a woman, even with the physical advantages of having gone through male puberty?

@Inamuddle36 she specifically explains all that in the article

All the advantages of going through male puberty are listed

The fact that this person still has a penis is mentioned often as it helps MEN understand that these are not neutered, operated males on a complex physical and emotional and hormonal pathway... that they are literally biologically entire males claiming to be women

That a person with a penis can call himself a woman

Many many men don't know this, they think any trans woman has gone through a painful physical hormone process and can be very sympathetic until they learn it's actually as simple as saying you are a woman, to now BE a woman

Honestly, it's taking a really long time to educate men on this. And until men get it, nothing will change, as men are still predominantly in power (at Vogue, at sports bodies, in government)

@Onyerbikethen yes you are correct, the policy only applies to competitive activities which includes any event with an aspect of timing, positions or points. So Breeze rides, and in fact regular club rides are exempt. I think a rule of thumb is if it’s subject to doping control then the policy applies. I don’t really know how it is supposed to work with clubs, whether we can derogate from BC and enforce policy even on club rides. Luckily it’s never been an issue for us and our road captain would give very short shrift to anyone who tried it on.

Thanks for that article. I enjoy a good roast on a Sunday made with good Stock.

British Cycling is still allowing males to take part in its non-competitive and grassroots Breeze programme, advertised as 'Women only bike rides...fun, free bike rides for women of all abilities across the UK.'

In fact, those 'women' can, and do, include those of the male sex because of British Cycling's dictats, despite there being an alternative called Guided Rides which is advertised as open to both sexes.

And Breeze Champions, who are overwhelmingly females, aren't allowed to turn away or question males who turn up for a Breeze ride as a self declared female. ☹️

As you can imagine, many of these volunteer Breeze Champions are pretty pissed off about the policy, and their objections are consistently shut down by British Cycling. Here is the policy:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20230526-about-bc-static-Update--Transgender-and-Non-Binary-Participation-policies-0

I think KS made excellent points and am glad her comment features prominently in the Sunday Times. However, I wishes he had not focussed so much on male anatomy (not sure if MN allows me to write the word??). It is not the presence of “male anatomy” that is problematic but rather the impact of male puberty. A transwoman who has had “male anatomy” surgically removed, still has the benefit of having gone through male puberty and therefore should not compete in female sport.

Sorry @RealityFan i posted a detailed response but must have used a banned word. In summary:
cycling: grassroots
athletics: grassroots
swimming: grassroots
triathlon: grassroots
Time trialling: grassroots
rugby: England RU have derogated from WR policy and allow transwomen to play in women’s teams at amateur level. Don’t know about the other home nations
gymnastics: no policy at all but unsurprising as it’s a car crash of a sport from the governance and safeguarding perspective

There are lots of unaffiliated events in running and cycling in particular. Parkrun is an obvious example in the running world but also lots of ultras. In cycling most MTB, gravel and fixed gear races are unaffiliated. Many unaffiliated events also don’t bother with such mundanities as doping control so already attract a lot of people who wouldn’t make it in more regulated competitive sports.

So, the changes to swimming, cycling, rugby, running...they all apply from the grass roots and up?

Girls and women can demand males stay out of their parkruns etc?

Of course, males will still sidle in at low level, who's gonna confront them? I can't imagine park organisers want to do a "gender count".

And of course, decades of unfettered access won't disappear without a fight.

Her error is that she states, or at least implies, that the policy applies only to elite category races. Many commentators seem to be labouring under the same misapprehension due to early inaccurate reporting of the policy change.

Parkrun is….running. It has nothing to do with BC, CTT or UCI which are all cycling governing bodies.

Yep, aggregation of marginal gains. It’s so powerful, that example is taught in business courses now, and it’s largely the reason Team GB dominated the 2012 Olympics.

Thanks for the share, OP. Great stuff!

i read Kathleen stock quite a lot in unherd and she is a fantastic writer, very funny with a great turn of phrase.
we’d all never have discovered her writing talents at all if trans activists were reasonable fair open minded people so we really do have to thank them!

Contrary to what Vogue apparently thinks, allowing males to compete in women’s sport doesn’t “diversify” it, just as letting cheetahs run in men’s sprint races wouldn’t diversify male sport.

Very clever play on words there.

Brilliant article!