Paula Radcliffe will be on the Today programme at 7.30

[EweSurname]

BBC Radio 4 Today
@BBCr4today
Today: Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge (0710) questions whether she was misled by Jeremy Corbyn, something his office strongly denies; Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the Yemen conflict (0810); and marathon great Paula Radcliffe on transgender athletics (0730) #r4Today

McKinnon tweeting furiously recently about how “NO TRANS OLYMPIANS” since the rule came in, while failing to acknowledge the women McKinnon has deprived with McKinnon’s victory and all the other amateur or school events like in Connecticut which matter JUST AS MUCH.

Well done Paula, I’m just leaving for my 5k, but I will be thinking of all this nonsense and try to channel some of your grit and determination and aim for a PB!

gendercriticalactioncenter.org/action-tell-the-media-you-support-martina-navratilova

ACTION: Tell the Media You Support Martina Navratilova

The Issue

Left wing media as well as media funded by the trans lobby are framing Martina Navratilova as a “Terf” and “Anti-trans,” for her statements in the Sunday Times UK article regarding men infiltrating women’s sports. Such defamatory labeling silences open discourse.

What You Can Do

Email media outlets (listed below) and let them know you disagree with the use of the disparaging epithets and efforts to censor Martina Navratilova’s important perceptions and that you support Martina.

Email Script

Dear Journalists,

I am calling on you, the media, to stop your abusive epithets of Martina Navratilova for her much-needed perceptions on men infiltrating women’s sports under the guise of civil rights. The derogatory slurs “Terf” and “Anti-Trans” have no place in media that seeks to inform from a fair vantage point.

Women’s sports were created to give biological females the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, with other biological women. Adding biological men to that category, emphatically erases the very concept of women’s sports. Trashing a leader and champion in women’s tennis with disparaging accusations because she tells the truth about biological reality, will win you no fans. I support Martina Navratilova’s courage in coming forward.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]

There are a list of email addresses on the website

Ha @EweSurname, that's brilliant!

Love you Paula :-)

Thanks Paula

I thought that was a very disappointing segment. No sense of weighing up the contributions, just wandering round prodding one of them.

The Today Programme is supposed to be this mighty flagship news programme when in reality it's just Take a Break for progressives.

I still think it's a good thing @nauticant that we have all these small, non-dramatic discussions about it. It normalises the fact that there are two sides to the argument, whereas a year ago we just wouldn't have seen these causal discussions take place at all.

I thought it was good but very obvious that Paula was tiptoeing round what she really wanted to say.

I think someone should simply ask why we separate men and women’s sports currently. Those reasons don’t disappear because someone feels they are really a woman in a man’s body.

Plus, having spent the weekend helping at a kids’ swimming gala and coming into contact with the vilest, pushiest parents I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet, I have NO doubt that some of them would definitely get their sons to identify as girls just to win more medals. (BTW qualifying times for girls swimming are faster than the boys until they hit 13 when the boys become faster. Wonder why? What could possibly happen at 13? Hmm....)

Thank you Paula for having the courage to speak out. It’s such a basic fact though that we have sex segregated sports so the women can compete against other women, to make it fair for All women. Introducing Male bodied athletes to the mix completely negates all fairness. Transwomen are not women, they are male bodied people who wish they had been born women.

I guess RK refused to go on so they played that old clip. A clip that really shows up RK. Excellent.

I thought the. RM’s humpty-dumpty, upside down reality-bending clip will have peaked some viewers before Paula even opened her mouth. Well done for speaking up, Paula. I’m sure Sharron is also immensely grateful for the chance of a lie-in. Great handover of the media baton.

Listeners, even.

You're right of course EstrellaDamn. I just find it so frustrating that it's hardwired into the BBC, and journalists with decades of experience who should know better, that in this issue you have to treat the "sides" differently.

Which contributes to what RitaFairclough said about GC people feeling they have to tip-toe. It's not just that they're afraid of attacks from the gender identity zealots, it's the fact that they know that if things got unpleasant enough, the BBC would hang them out to dry.

I thought she became more confident towards the end, but I was frustrated about the focus on testosterone. Paula did manage to get a point in about men's greater physical strength but I felt it got somewhat lost.

That comment by RMcK did make me go wtf... I assume RMcK was trying to win on semantics, as in, nobody is born a fully-grown adult male (man). It just made RMcK seem ridiculous and lacking in any logical argument.

I saw this on twitter. It may be a joke...

The McKinnon tape was an old interview from last year. Looks like Auntie wanted 'balance' but couldn't find a TA willing to leave their echo chamber.

Fekko isn't that why we need to respect the great McKinnon as a scientist of great renown?

ewe I laughed too hard

I am a doctor dontcha know? Well I identify as one on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays I’m an astronaut.

The Today Programme is supposed to be this mighty flagship news programme when in reality it's just Take a Break for progressives.

😂

More a Suzuki Carry than a Sherpa.

I saw this on twitter. It may be a joke...

No, it appears to be real. Go to Google scholar and enter Rachel Mackinnon and you can easily find the link to it and other pieces of work.

That comment by RMcK did make me go wtf... I assume RMcK was trying to win on semantics, as in, nobody is born a fully-grown adult male (man). It just made RMcK seem ridiculous and lacking in any logical argument.

It did.

The whole conversation is just...meh.

I remember listening to R4 a debate between scientists and climate deniers. The scientists were so...thrown by the utter stupidity of the climate deniers points that they themselves could hardly get their own reasoned and factual points across. A lot of the debates with Trans activists remind me of that.

twitter.com/paulajradcliffe/status/1102863444443885568

Carole Haswell
‏**@saltburnlass**
I thought the way @BBCr4today set up the piece on women's sport with @paulajradcliffe was rather biased against women.

Here is what @martina actually wrote:
www.martinanavratilova.com/?fbclid=IwAR1srUClV-kKrtEywAyQ05HP5g95TQCAOD_WP8Dnoh3V_Lg8CesMWawUOSM …

Paula Radcliffe
‏**@paulajradcliffe**
Replying to @saltburnlass @BBCr4today @Martina
Exactly. I am cross with myself as thought I was going on to talk about a different issue. There is so much confusion out there and I am afraid that just added to it. What female sport needs is standardised rules across all sports. At the moment we are discussing different issues

Love you Tessa! We love you Daly! Come on Fatima, waiting for Fatima... childhood heros yay!

We love martina too (goes without saying). Where is Venus and serena?