Emily bridges may have to wait 2 years to compete against women in British cycling

[GretaGip]

In today's Daily mail.Dm article

AIBU to think the tide might be turning?

An athlete who has been through male puberty has no place in women’s sport. Ever. It’s cheating.

Sounds like they are physically in the correct category then.

However, as the trans community grows, surely the answer is to have their own categories now? There may not be enough top level athletes yet, but there will be in the future if they start the ball rolling.

The whole issue is far too complex, but just allowing trans women to compete as women and trans men to compete as women feels very wrong!

What I can’t understand is why Emily Bridges is so utterly determined to be able to compete in women’s cycling and is determined to play the victim in the media about it.

Ignoring all the concerns expressed about fairness suggests that Emily bridges simply doesn’t care about fair competition. Not exactly a sporting attitude is it?

Denying that skeletal structure, differences in lung, heart and other organs’ capacity, and all the basic physical differences of having gone through puberty with a male body make any difference is just gaslighting the world.

Ignoring all the concerns expressed about fairness suggests that Emily bridges simply doesn’t care about fair competition. Not exactly a sporting attitude is it?

It isn't about fair competition. It's about appropriating and redefining womanhood until males are the ones who get to determine it. A male feeling trumps female existence and that's the way Bridges thinks it should be.

Not exactly a sporting attitude is it?

It seems that sporting fairness comes a very poor second to results at any cost (to others) and validation.

See also the comment above about Ivy - fairness is out the window, “rights” are the only show in town.

That does seem to be the case. Yes.

But, given that it’s about sport in particular, Emily also wants to compete in a category in which Emily has an unfair advantage. Winning on merit doesn’t seem to matter.

People with that kind of approach are bad sportspeople. It’s no different than deciding that it’s ok to win by doping or any other way of giving yourself an unfair advantage.

Men should not be in womens sport, period. It's absolute insanity that we have got here, well insanity or male entitlement, one or the other, or both!

I’m curious to know why (or indeed what) youre ‘feeling’ for Bridges?
Bridges is perfectly entitled to race against other males, as Bridges was doing only a few months ago.

Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and biology are suddenly wiped away because a man wants to identify as a woman. (And that bit doesn't particularly bother me too much) but they want to trample all over womens rights, achievements and advancements whilst they're at it.

I very much doubt we will see a surge in trans athletes unless the rulings state that hormone levels will not be tested. A transman taking T would be disqualified from both the mens AND the women’s competitions whilst a transwoman taking hormone blockers will not be able to reduce their T levels to that of women.
The main reason why I think its very unlikely is that as more and more children are being prescribed PBs and cross sex hormones, those children’s bodies will not develop as normal and therefore be less strong than other children. So they’d be less successful at sport in either the male or the female categories.
All the transwomen currently trying to compete in women’s sport were fully developed adult males when they decided they were ‘women’ and therefore have had the benefit of male puberty, which is why they have all been successful in male competition. Surprisingly, they also have another thing in common - after competing at top levels in male sports competitions, they’ve lost their form - either through injury or ageing - before trying to compete against women.
Theres a lot more to be asked about why failing successful male athletes suddenly decide theyre female. The power of success / devastation of failure in sport is a significant phenomenon.

A small step in the correct direction.

I remember years ago when these issues were initially debated that someone cautioned that men could eventually compete in woman's sports. They were howled down as being alarmist, ridiculous, prejudiced blah blah. It was some old crusty dude as I recall and he was humiliated by the right on audience. Suppose old crusty bods can be right sometimes.

A transman taking T would be disqualified from both the mens AND the women’s competitions

Transmen can get a therapeutic use exemption for T to allow them to take part in men’s competitions.

Transmen aren’t competitive in male sport because women with elevated T levels are not men.

Same as Emily Bridges with a lowered T level is not a woman.

“Emily” Bridges should never be allowed to compete against women. Because Emily is male.

YANBU to be optimistic.

However

Bridges should not be competing in women‘s events. They are cheating.

Women are not just men with low testosterone and no penis and testicles

Merryclaire there was also a US "ironman" type competitor who sucessful (i think 40+) and a highschool (?) wrestler in Texas who was trying to move into the male classifications.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander
What I can’t understand is why Emily Bridges is so utterly determined to be able to compete in women’s cycling and is determined to play the victim in the media about it.

You are looking at the podium win. But the competition is not the cycle track but to force people to act as if a male is a female.

There is an American transman who competes in womens swimming events, because , surprise surprise, there is no point in them competing in mens events if they want to win. Heck, even a decent swimmer like Lia Thomas found they couldn’t win in mens swimming events when they were swimming as a man, so no hope for a transman.

He can call himself whatever he wants and wear whatever clothes and makeup he chooses. But he doesn’t get to take women’s rights away from them. Ever.

There is an American transman who competes in womens swimming events, because , surprise surprise, there is no point in them competing in mens events if they want to win.

Presumably he's found a way to keep his gender identity intact even while swimming in his correct sex class.

Astonishing.

I wouldn't assume that Bridges has no penis or testicles. All the high-profile trans athletes I can think of have famously kept their tackle.

But I have heard that there can be more skill and artistry in women's sports because we don't have that brute force. Some people find it more interesting to watch for that reason. They don't want to see a male athlete steamrolling the others.

Should have to wait forever . . . 2 years is better than today, but it's not worthy of celebrating yet.

A lot of this is, I feel, indicative of the general feelings of entitlement that people seem to have these days.

My cousin transitioned years ago (took years of therapy before surgery was even considered). He used to compete at a reasonably high level in marathon running but stopped when he began to live "as a woman".

His take on it is is that you have to make choices in life and it would be unfair to compete against biological women. His need to live "as a female" is stronger than his need to compete.

I'm flabbergasted that the ruling bodies of these top flight sports care more about one man's feelings that they do about female athletes.

Emily should never compete in women's sports