Rugby becomes first sport to make “ultimate statement in equality “

[BiologyIsReal]

Can’t link but Daily Telegraph reports today that World Rugby is adopting gender-neutral naming for tournaments, dropping the word “women” from in front of the Women’s Rugby World Cup so men’s and women’s will simply both be known as the Rugby World Cup.

CEO Brett Gosper said it was “a landmark and a statement that we are treating the men’s and women’s games evenly and the potential in each is as powerful as the other”

Sir Bill Beaumont, World Rugby chairman said it showed unwavering commitment to advancing women on Rugby.

“Unintentional gender bias in sport is an ongoing issue. As a global sporting federation we need to be seen leading from the front.”

Good for them. Interesting that one of the most ‘macho’ sports is consistently taking the lead in equality e.g World Rugby is offering extra seats to unions on condition the are filled by women.

Let’s hope our friends, the TRAs, don’t try and hijack the change by claiming the tournaments don’t specify they are “women’s”!

That Foxy Fighter page has suggested responses for the child on the bottom.

Honestly knowing how it works in DH sport (hockey) rule changes like this would be seen as a box ticking exercise & I’m certain they thought no one would actually do it

I'm sure this is the explanation for a lot of it, to be honest. People tick a diversity box, an inclusion box, a Stonewall box and think job done.

Without realising that it leads to perverted men suing beauticians for not touching their cock. Or rapists in female prisons. Or violently folding women like deckchairs.

They're not lawyers, mostly they're not feminists, and they are not aware.

That is, of course, changing as women raise awareness.

People are already becoming aware that places like Stonewall, mermaids, Gires, etc, are having the word controversial attached to them.

Just been discussing more with DH who it seems is finally seeing the light. His view is they’re terrified of being taken to court and that they’re more scared of being taken to court over this than over players being injured because this is an unknown area to them whereas sporting injuries is a known territory. I raised the issue of safety & insurance & he said that he doubts ppl involved in those areas get involved in stuff about inclusion & diversity. Honestly it’s been a very depressing conversation....

At least he’s now looking up what hockey says about trans people bearing in mind mixed sex hockey is already a thing

FannyCann

Those graphics! It's utterly insane.

Kit19 Is your DH aware of the transgender policies in hockey?
Scottish hockey transgender policy. English hockey's policy is identical. Both dated 2017.

Completely agree @Datun I think it’s exactly that. Mostly it’s not done with evil intent, it’s done from ignorance & because let’s not forget stonewall & mermaids are very very good at what they do I.e. persuading public bodies & big corporates that they MUST do this and if they paying them vast amounts of money the problem will be solved for them

The doubling down however is unforgivable

Cross posted with you just now, Kit. Here's the England hockey transgender policy

@OldCrone he’s involved in welsh hockey but I expect it will be a job lot as all the home associations tend to follow same lines

www.hockeywales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/transsexual-people-and-competitive-sport-guidance-national-governing-bodies.pdf

The doubling down however is unforgivable

I agree. But because the legalese, attached to the GRA and the equality act is impenetrable to normal people, they go back to these organisations and say help what should I say, and the organisations come up with some desperate response that makes them look even worse.

Because they're lying, by omission, and subterfuge. And no amount of asking them for clarification can alter that.

I raised the issue of safety & insurance & he said that he doubts ppl involved in those areas get involved in stuff about inclusion & diversity.

I think this is where the problem lies in getting people's attention. 'Trans' is seen as an 'inclusion and diversity' issue, like getting more ethnic minority people to take part in sport, or getting women or older people or disabled people to take part in the appropriate category for their age and sex.

Getting transgender people to take part in sport has become about letting people take part in sports in teams or categories for the opposite sex. If it was about getting macho male rugby players to accept feminine-presenting men into their changing rooms and teams, that would be true diversity and inclusion.

When men are allowed to compete in women's categories in contact sports, that becomes a safety and insurance issue. It's nothing to do with inclusion and diversity.

@Datun yes again I completely agree

@OldCrone it is SO much that. It’s very odd in many ways - generally most sports bodies see the ppl who do the “diversity & inclusion” stuff as some kind of PC gorn maaad necessary evil and they’re not high status in the organisation at all.....and yet here we are

The Foxy Fighter cartoon thing has been posted before. Can’t believe the ridiculousness of the suggested responses to the dad. My idea for the dad’s next response is:

Your dad then tells you that Fox shattered the eye socket of their opponent, Tamikka Brents.

Your dad then reads out Brents’ quote of her experience of the fight:

"I've fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can't answer whether it's because she was born a man or not because I'm not a doctor. I can only say, I've never felt so overpowered ever in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right," she stated. "Her grip was different, I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn't move at all in Fox's clinch..."

Your dad then ask how the hell you can think it’s fair that a male can fight against a female, before expressing shame in bringing up a child so lacking in critical analysis skills. He then tells you to go and volunteer at the women’s shelter down the road and ask those women if they could put up an equal fight with the males they know, before returning to watch the tv with a massive eye roll.

Has it been made clear where, when, by whom and under what conditions Morgan’s testosterone levels will be tested?

I used to play (wome’s) rugby at a fairly high level, and there was no drug testing in place at all. I have friends who played for the national team, and they weren’t drug tested routinely (I seem to recall they may have been for the World Cup though, but that was exceptional, and I vividly recall it being talked about because it was such a weird, out of the ordinary experience for my friends).

What facilities are there in place for drug testing divisional level women’s rugby? Because I’ll tell you for free that ten years ago, when I was playing, they 100% did not exist. It didn’t happen.

Even if testosterone levels were a good proxy for males gaining entry to women’s sports, which they absolutely are not, there’s no way to even ensure it happens.

Utter bollocks. I would be terrified playing against this player. I hope the opposition refuse to play, or refuse to tackle Morgan and just let them rampage all over the pitch to prove how absurd this all is.

If it was about getting macho male rugby players to accept feminine-presenting men into their changing rooms and teams, that would be true diversity and inclusion.

^^This. Same for other male spaces.

generally most sports bodies see the ppl who do the “diversity & inclusion” stuff as some kind of PC gorn maaad necessary evil

And not just sports bodies. It's what's happening in schools as well. It's the silo mentality. Diversity and inclusion has nothing to do with safety. They're in their separate silos and they don't interact in any way. To be fair, I think this is true with everything apart from transgenderism. Because that is the only 'diversity and inclusion' category in which we are required to believe that some people are not what they actually are.

I much prefer your response, NotBad.

Ive just deciphered the Foxy Fighter pages [optician urgently needed]. Jesus H. Candlesticks, what the actual fuck is that? Is that a publication for schools? Tell me it's a satire. Please. Please.

I am trying to get my head around the Scottish Rugby principle one that player agreeing to play take responsibility for any injuries to themselves and others, whilst simultaneously not having the right to be informed of who they could be up against.

That makes no fucking sense at all does it property

It is also implying that if an injury were to happen the responsibility would be that of the trans woman and not the organisers. It is informing women that they really need to be looking for a new sport and if not any injuries are their own fault for agreeing to participate.

Hang on - et tu Scottish rugby? I’d be happy if this was ‘play in your sex group and play nice everyone’ but I suspect not.

It is the problem of word soup, a statement aimed at one group that when you lose the ability to differentiate it losses all clarity and equally must then apply to the whole group.

Twitter thread, Ross Tucker, Sports Scientist & consultant for World Rugby:

mobile.twitter.com/Scienceofsport/status/1164549833119666176

One reason contact sports are a particular problem is because even if lowering T removes some of the advantages (evidence emerging that it does not, so it gets worse), many that are relevant to rugby and safety do not disappear after T reduction - stature, bulk etc persist (2/)

I think that contact sports all face a similar dilemma in this regard and will probably be well advised to collaborate and develop a policy with a player welfare priority (in addition to the fairness question). They’ll be much stronger collectively than in isolation. (3/)

Perhaps that policy has to have some measures of strength and/or anthropometry, though this of course introduces a real logistical challenge in a team sport environment - how to test, who tests and how often? Major issues, hence power of “unity” (4/)

There is a consultation going on in Scottish rugby
www.scottishrugby.org/rules-and-regulations/open-consultations

It is open till 31/08/2019