Just a quickie on gender research

[Charliethefeminist]

Hunting for the mystery academic project that Mumsnet has kindly (not sarcastic) told us about, I found this

www.findaphd.com/search/projectdetails.aspx?PJID=97224

So whether or not it's the MN project, some researchers who happily accept the word and concept of 'cis' could well be scouring out posts for anything we say about girls being beaten in races by... XY. Just wanted to let people know rather than start a thread. As women here are not transphobic, it's not a warning. It could be nice if everyone's extremely cogent views get a wider airing. But a marvellous opportunity also for the inevitable 🐀 f*ers.

Interesting that it’s ‘examining how the participation of transgender people is represented in the media and the public discourse’ and not ‘examining how the participation of transgender people is affecting women in sport’.

I bet it’d be harder to get the second one funded.

Quite. It's all about the message, and this research will form part of the message.

Love the way they've decided what the conclusion should be before they've actually done the research.

"One of the most influential, powerful and visible institutions upholding the gender binary is sport – where participation is predominantly segregated by biological sex, rooted in the widely-held beliefs about fairness and the biological advantages associated with being male. Such beliefs are over-simplistic, legitimise discrimination, and hinder the sports participation of transgender (intersex, trans, non-binary) individuals. With the rapidly growing societal visibility of transgender people, there is an unprecedented need to address areas where discrimination may arise."

Over-simplistic my arse. There is a wealth of data about differences between male and female performance. In running world records are approx. 10% quicker for men over all distances from 100m to the marathon. The lightest weight division for men in power-lifting still lifts more than the women's heavy weight division. There is next to no overlap in the scatter plots for grip strength between men and women - and interestingly, a 70 year old man still has more grip strength than a 30 year old woman. (Jam jars, you fuckers).

Fuck me, I bet it's piss easy ATM to get funding to write such absolute drivel and come out of it with a PhD!

I would be very, very interested to see whether the final 'project' makes even passing reference to those boys who took first and second in the girls' 100m race when they would have been in about 200th place if they'd been racing other boys.

If any aspect of this project was in good faith, they'd be conducting research to demonstrate that men don't have a biological advantage over women wrt to sport. They're not attempting to do that, I wonder why not?

Yes Fermats I was just about to post that myself. What is the point when Witcomb has already made up her mind.

As an aside, re women's sport. I am so angry that I find myself now wondering if any winners are transwomen - so that I may defned wmen. I am so disturbed that I should be doubting the sex of women in women's sport instead of being able to unquestiongly celebrate their participation and achievements. We have the utter erosion of trust and certainty where it should all be really bloody clear.

There is also a transwoman sports researcher producing results in favour of trans people surprise surpise, so again obvious bias.

What has happened to science and intelligence?

Sorry wordly badly with anger, but hopefully you know what I mean. What I mean is it should never ever even be a question that there is a male in women;s sport. nd if a mistake is made, as say with intersex then sdaly the athlete has to realsie that they cannot fall within the rules and take it on the chin as people with disabilties and particular drug requirements do.

Loughborough University, yeah?

Feminine men in womens' sport = cheating

Masculine Women competing in mens' sports = can't say I've noticed any.

Worryingly, the blurb talks about intersex athletes as 'gender diverse' and implies that they are transgender. Hopefully, the applicants will have a better understanding of interSEX conditions.

Presumably the focus will be females rather than males with intersex conditions, since the latter don't seem to be visible at the highest levels or attract controversies around "an unfair advantage".