Zoe Williams -

Maybe so, but I thought the rigorous admissions interview and tutorial system at Oxford was designed to ensure only genuinely intellectual people would earn an Oxford degree? ZW has a degree in history from Oxford. I will concede that decades ago a private education made it far more likely you'd get in.

I am not a fan of Zoe Williams though I used to be, but I am a fan of accuracy so I feel obliged to point out that she is the same age as me (50).

I was still at school during the 1992 general election so I doubt ZW was writing for the Guardian then, and I am absolutely positive she wasn't writing about shagging her way round Soho in the 1980s.

That's all. As you were.

I've realised, gradually over the years, that some people are just not intellectual ( think rationally and with freedom of enquiry); they are more emotional thinkers. They process information through emotional channels and so are particularly susceptible to holding views which create emotional comfort.

You can be bright without being intellectual. I suspect that Williams belonged to the popular 'in girl' group at school, and could be mean and catty. She gets by through innate confidence, but is also argumentative. She like to keep up with the lingo and attitudes of those younger than her to show how cool she is

Her fairly shallow journalism is a reflection of her temperament, her mind set and her abilities.

I can't seem to see what Sharron Davies replied (Don't have twitter). Can anyone enlighten me? I only saw ZW's stupid comment(s).

yeah I don't know how anyone can defend males in female sports. There is nothing stopping a man sticking on a female swimsuit and swimming in the male race, where he belongs. How awesome would that be? Instead of pretending he's female and using actual female athletes and female athletics to validate that?

@RebelliousCow Susceptibility to propaganda maybe

What is astounding is how fereciously people such as Zoe Williams respond when anyone persists in critiquing genderism. There is no reasoning, only emotional outburts and personal comment. What is it that captures people in this way and makes them behave like that? What is it they are defending?

I'm trying to think of possible scenarios in which I might react similarly - and if I can what would it be that is motovating me; moving me?

i know people can behave badly on twiitter because they post spontaneously - but having seen the clip above where Zoe Williams defends males in women's sports suggests she is really determined to argue the case ( even if her arguments are essentially faulty)

To be fair, I don't think she was. I remember looking for her name and not seeing it.
I do remember her telling Suzanne Moore to fuck off on Twitter though although she (ZW) then deleted it I think.

She basically teed it up and Sharron hit it down the fairway

Wow. Taking on a great woman athlete to argue that she should shut up about women's sports. That's a big call.

Peter Twatchell also claimed that women were stronger than men and easily able to muscle them around on a football pitch.

She's grabbed a point, misunderstood it, and based an entire argument on it.

The FA took against women's football in the 20s because their games were too popular (and taking revenue from the men's games); not because women were better in the sense of being faster or stronger.

Here's Zoe talking about women's sport. Worth watching just for the look on Ella Whelan's face.
https://twitter.com/crit_gen/status/1750498358014226910
She's an idiot. Amazing how far confidence can take you.

I love this !

I've literally said nothing about sport! There are things I could say, but I haven't said them! Is there a way to call off Sharron Davies, or once she's activated, she fights to the death?

Painful; Zoe's somewhat over-reliant on the Graun's subs, I see.

Am I alone in reading Zoe's line that "[t]here are things I could say" as an admission that she wants to tell female sportswomen to just try harder?

Foolish of Williams. Sharron Davies has been there and got the tshirt for just trying harder against female athletes doping with testosterone!

Doh! The article isnt about the choices the royals have, silly me, it's all about Zoe.....

Marlborough over Eton every time if you have to choose.
Kate far more well rounded than Wills, imho.

As for Zoe, she's a tedious prize prawn.

(Sorry, I dont like to be personal but am in a bad mood today, having been posh waffled at by a pompous, patronising prick of an emotionally and communicatively illiterate man (,not the dh )and it is making me feel a teensiest bit better to offlload here)

I take it Zoe Williams was one of the signatories to the Guardian staff letter damning Suzanne Moore?

She is not reading the replies and all reasonable critisism is labelled as a a pile on and hate. So standard tactics.

Rather unwise of Zoe to give Sharron an opening like that, because she absolutely nailed it.

Yes, saying that about SD is really uncalled for.

QEII Conference Centre? I'd buy a ticket. Nothing to do with hoping I'd sit so close to Selina Todd and Daley Thompson again.

If you feel so strongly, Zoe, I'm sure you'd be happy to debate in public with Sharron?