And then look back a few years ago, when 'people' were looking at how to encourage girls and women to join in sporting activities and not to drop out, there was research about the benefits of sport for women and girls, research into the obstacles to participation, the reasons why females stopped and the strategies to encourage increased participation.. women and girls said - more female only spaces, equality of access to facilities, female role models, female coaches, kit and resources designed for women's bodies, sports facilities that meet our needs including that of privacy..
and then came the fear of being called out for assuming that women meant female... being challenged for not being inclusive, for being regressive, transphobic... so as soon as anyone said the word women / girl - there was a challenge as to whether this was inclusive .. so people backed away from all of the wonderful work that was being done to increase the participation of women in sport. If women questioned something, they were / are accused of being transphobic, they are told they cannot believe the evidence of their eyes, that they are denying trans rights, that men are women, that they are wrong.... and if they are uncomfortable, then they can find somewhere else to change or come to training / games already changed or that they can be offered inclusivity training and that transphobia will not be tolerated in our sport - these words are written into policy after policy around the globe... copy paste..
Women and girls then slink away, unable to speak up for themselves, feeling like they are the ones who are wrong, that they don't belong, that it is not fun to play sport and get hurt, that they are wrong to feel uncomfortable changing in front of male bodies, they feel shame, they feel like they are failures and they have no one to talk to and no where to explore these feelings..
To use the words of Cathy Devine when she commented on X about the IOC Reporting Guidelines about the gender of Olympic Athletes.. : The document uses the work done to ensure equal recognition representation & inclusion of female & male athletes at the pinnacle of elite sport to undermine all this important work & coerce female athletes to include male athletes in female sport.
I see the work done to encourage women into sport, being weaponised against women, undermining all of the good work that was done to put women's sport on an equal footing with men's sport and to coerce females to accept males into the female category.
Someone replied: I want to scream until the windows break. - I say, do it - break all of the windows!!
There is no sport without fairness.. we have to look no further than the world records to see the difference in sporting performance between men and women. We need to look back and think about why we have a female category - it is not because of female sensitivities - it is because of biological differences.
Other people have said it much better than I have - look at the decisions of the international Athletics, Swimming, Rugby, Rowing organisations and refer to them rather than relying on your own words - there are plenty of people to quote.
Encourage other people to also lobby the Local, National and International organisations for fairness... it is a fundamental right after all!!
Refer to the words used in regards to doping:
https://netball.sport/game/anti-doping-guidelines/?cn-reloaded=1#:~:text=World%20Netball%20is%20unequivocally%20opposed,athletes%20participating%20in%20such%20competition.
"This position is motivated by a desire for fair and equal competition and by concern for the health of athletes participating in such competition."
Apologies for spamming your thread - but I hope at least some of my ranting is helpful.