Sharron Davies on Hardtalk with Steven Sackur

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discussing the issue of fairness in sport

she very cleverly clarifies the Caster Semenya 46xy issue and also discusses Dr Rachel Mckinnon ( Dr philosophy)

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csy97q

She stands her ground and expresses her points well

Just listened to that - Sharron Davies was awesome!

Sharron Davies was fantastic. Great to have women like her providing clarity and truth to this debate.
It's available to watch on iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005cp5/hardtalk-sharron-davies-former-olympic-swimmer

She was seriously good wasn't she?

She's really well informed - the interviewer couldn't catch her out on a single point, and she defied her female socialisation and didn't fall for his shaming tactics - I was expecting the "can't we just be kind?" line at any moment Really, really good interview.

Thank you Sharron.

I love that Sharron isn’t just fighting about women’s sports now. She is full on gender critical and seems unafraid of saying exactly what she thinks. Her Twitter feed is superb.

Sharron is the expert. And it showed.

Sharron was fantastic. She was given a really hard time yet totally owned it. Totally professional and so well informed.

I too am really sad about her father and how he never got to be a national coach because he dared to question the drug fuelled east german cheating.

Brilliant from Sharron. Notice how every time she nailed it, he changed tack because he had no answer. I know in Hard Talk it's Sackur's job to play devil's advocate but I wonder if he inwardly squirmed at having to make such ridiculous points in the face of devastating logic and biological knowledge from Sharron.

On the Castor issue it was great that she brought out the fact of the internal testes and if Castor had been born in the UK these would have been revealed early on via ultra sound and she would almost certainly been raised as a boy.

Just watched it on iPlayer, Sharon was indeed fantastic.
I haven't seen Hard Talk before but the intro was very reminiscent of Brass Eye.

Sackur was pretty GF throughout, but watching the two of them chat over the end credits, it seemed more like he was in on it and maybe did that as a way to defend accusations of being soft on her?

Sharon was amazing. I was punching the air while eating my lunch. The smug patronising interviewer was trying to discredit her from the start. ‘Why Didn’t you speak out, why didn’t you speak out?’ It was so transparent where he was going. Sharon even managed a few digs at the craven BBC. That was brilliant, thank you Sharon. I want to watch the documentary she did now.

Looking forward to catching up with this later. Thank you for standing up Sharron.

Sackur was pretty GF throughout, but watching the two of them chat over the end credits, it seemed more like he was in on it and maybe did that as a way to defend accusations of being soft on her?

I don't think so. They are always shown to be jovial with the interviewee at the end, or just civil if they've interviewed some particularly unsavoury individual. I thought Sackur was pretty good, he didn't get bogged down in transphobia nonsense, and he didn't talk over Sharron any more than he does with other guests.

Just listened - Sharron was fantastic.
Absolutely on point, with a polite and measured way of getting across exactly what she wanted to say

Well done Sharron that was phenomenal. How fantastic to have such an articulate and intelligent woman speaking up to protect women’s sport

listening

I haven't seen Hard Talk before but the intro was very reminiscent of Brass Eye.

Some of the actual discussion they have are very Brass Eye, too.

I'm surprised sackur didn't have better arguements, to be fair. It was odd to talk about the doping in the 80s, then look shocked at the suggestion that anyone would cheat at sport. Unless he thinks only East Germans would do such a thing.

Ruth Hunt was on HardTalk week ago. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00054hg/hardtalk-ruth-hunt-ceo-stonewall

Much gentler questioning that did not cut through the polished technique.

I was very impressed not by her knowledge, you would expect her to be an expert in sport but by her interviewee skills. Sticking to FACTS, having all of the relevant facts right there, not letting the derails get to her. She was brilliant!

I hope that this will be the thing that will get most people on our side -- the realisation that if biological males, whatever their later alterations, be that surgical or hormonal, are allowed to compete in female sports, then elite female sports will be useless for girls. No scholarships, no point training so hard year after year, because it will no longer be fair. And unlike the loo debates, just the presence of transwomen in a female sport makes the point, very directly and obviously to everyone.

But Sharron really does do a fantastic job!

So calm, cool and collected.
So strong.

She gets better every time I hear her speak about this and she started off pretty damn great as it is. Very impressive.

I'm surprised sackur didn't have better arguements, to be fair. It was odd to talk about the doping in the 80s, then look shocked at the suggestion that anyone would cheat at sport. Unless he thinks only East Germans would do such a thing.

Like many men, he seems to (unconsciously?) believe that being a woman is so lowly and degrading, no man would try to 'become' one unless he was completely sincere. This seems to be at the root of the instinctual empathy many men have for men who 'identify' as women: a sort of horrified pity, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God etc.

This is also the reason people keep calling men 'brave' for adopting feminine appearance norms. (Not just trans-identified men - drag queens also inspire an unreasonable level of genuflection for what usually amounts to tired schtick). I mean, rescuing someone from a burning building is brave. Putting on lipstick and growing your hair out objectively is not. It really says something about the way people see women, that they think men are brave for taking on some of our appearance norms.

She was amazing. One of my idols anyway but my god, it's incredible we have her to speak for us. I remember hitting puberty alongside the boys I swam with and despite being high up there in the girls' events suddenly not being able to compete against boys. The sport was a lifeline for me as a bullied teen, gave me so much self esteem for my performance and let me experience of people who liked and respected me. Without a level playing field I am sure I would have felt despairing there too.

Also the irony -

Women: something is wrong
Men: meh
Women: no it's really wrong tho
Men: shut up moaning and being difficult

it is revealed something is wrong

Men: how did we let this happen?!
Women: well we did tell you...
Men: why didn't you speak out more?!

Like many men, he seems to (unconsciously?) believe that being a woman is so lowly and degrading, no man would try to 'become' one unless he was completely sincere. This seems to be at the root of the instinctual empathy many men have for men who 'identify' as women: a sort of horrified pity, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God etc.

This.

He kept challenging the assertion (that she hadn't actually made), that no man would ever transition for gain.

But rankly, it's completely irrelevant. Their motivation doesn't determine whether it's fair or not. So it's a pointless to even raise the question.

Like many men, he seems to (unconsciously?) believe that being a woman is so lowly and degrading, no man would try to 'become' one unless he was completely sincere. This seems to be at the root of the instinctual empathy many men have for men who 'identify' as women: a sort of horrified pity, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God etc.

Castration anxiety. Someone should tell them that this not the norm!