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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Clare Balding throws women under the bus

94 replies

MrsSnippyPants · 11/11/2019 12:06

Interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk Radio from 9.35 am this morning. (Available on the Talk Radio app via 'schedule' then listen again).

The words Clare used were that the issue was being presented as 'dramatic' and 'overhyped' .

Julie brought up the Kent cricketer, Clare brought up Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps having bigger feet, a bigger wingspan and being taller, and that women were not the people who should be talking about it!!

Not enough eye rolls in the world.
Not en

Hopefully someone will produce a direct link at some point today.

OP posts:
Beamur · 11/11/2019 15:25

And (although unlikely) what if Michael Phelps decided to self ID. He has a pretty significant advantage over other men, he'd take out women's swimming easily.
This argument over the outliers of physical ability is like the proverb of not being able to see the splinter for the plank in your eye.

CeridwenTheWitch · 11/11/2019 15:38

This is very disappointing. There seems to be a trend of women in positions of power who are wealthy and will never have to access women only spaces, are wokeing-out and abandoning the rest of us because they think it will make them 'on the right side of history' and 'they don't want to be one of those awful terfs.'

I wish they would use take a step back, engage their empathy and use some critical thinking skills. I'm so grateful every time a woman in power speaks up about this and defends our rights.

ARoombaOfOnesOwn · 11/11/2019 15:46

I didn't and won't comment on her knowledge of horse raving as it isn't a sport I follow

Now horse raving is something I’d go and watch.

MockersthefeMANist · 11/11/2019 16:04

Now horse raving is something I’d go and watch.

It's called Dressage.

Lumene · 11/11/2019 16:17

As a BBC producer she is supposed to be neutral on controversial topics. Cf Jenny Murray.

ARoombaOfOnesOwn · 11/11/2019 17:03

Grin Mockers.

Loveislandaddict · 11/11/2019 17:11

I interpreted that differently. Ie. She’s saying that men should get involved in the debate, to discuss how they feel about the situation. By saying they have bigger feet etc, she’s agreeing that they should not participate in women’s sport.

ShesDressedInBlackAgain · 11/11/2019 17:32

I think the point is that there are all kinds of things in sport that give people an advantage. So if you look at the line up for the sprint events most competitors will be people of colour. Most. And long distance running is dominated by people from east Africa iirc. Mostly.

But if you lined up people in order of time for the 100m regardless of sex the line up would be exclusively male. And the next line-up and the next and the next, as far as the eye could see. You'd have white men, asian men, short men, tall gangly men...hundreds and hundreds, thousands of them, before you got to the fastest woman.

That is what we are talking about. Not an advantage. A gamechanger. It is not the same as Michael Phelps' floppy ankles or whatever. Obviously. And everyone knows that.

Doobigetta · 11/11/2019 17:39

Is she on Twitter? And if so has anyone tried to get her to engage?

PocketDictionary · 11/11/2019 17:40

Blurb for one of her books (which are squarely aimed at girls). I award her a Biscuit.

"Fennel and Twiglet are best friends. They do everything together, from curling up in their basket to playing fetch in the park. Twiglet understands Fennel like no one else, especially her life-long dream of winning Crufts.
There's just one problem: Fennel isn't a dog. And a girl can't win a competition for dogs, no matter how much she acts like one."

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 11/11/2019 17:45

I had my suspicions when I heard a ramblings when she went out with lgb(heavy on the T) kids and teens group ‘my name is blah and my pronouns are bleugh...’

MrsWooster · 11/11/2019 17:45

I think she’s missed a trick here : the tide is turning and Sharron et al will be the go-to voices. Commentators who have pinned their colours to the selfID mast are going to have to do some nifty back peddling.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 11/11/2019 17:50

Is this an old interview? I thought the whole ‘well some swimmers have long arms and big feet’ was tried and laughed out of the room when Sharron started speaking out. I even remember ranting in Sainsbury’s one morning at one idiot being interviewed.

VinandVigour · 11/11/2019 18:08

Thank goodness I can turn off any programme she presents now. I’ve never thought she was particularly good, she knows next to nothing about most sports, but I always felt that I ought to support any woman that manages to survive in such a Male area of TV, so was torn.

I can’t stand that Ramblings thing she does on R4, last year she was on the TV and two different radio stations simultaneously, it was like being in the middle of a bad dream. She has taken over from Martin Jarvis as the voice of BBC Radio 4. They even had a play about her, with her ‘acting’ in it.

ErrolTheDragon · 11/11/2019 18:17

OMG, that Fennel and Twiglet book is for real!Shock

koshkat · 11/11/2019 19:44

I am disappointed in her. She likes dogs. I feel she should have a bit more common sense

Same here. What a fool she is for endorsing cheating men in sport.

InvisibleWomenMustBeRead · 11/11/2019 19:55

So disappointing as I really like Claire Balding! Love @powershowerforanhour's post! Really wish Claire would read that and hopefully change her thought processes.

CaveMum · 11/11/2019 20:10

Really disappointed to read this, I’m another in the racing industry and had a lot of respect for her as it’s a bloody tough industry for a woman to make it in.

I used to have a lot to do with her mother, in a professional capacity, and her father once perved at me at an industry dinner, though if the rumours are true (spoiler - they are!) I was by no means the first or last.

CaveMum · 11/11/2019 20:11

Oh and if course, great post powershower, perhaps add in a question about the jockey allowance for female riders in France too? 😜

PermanentTemporary · 11/11/2019 20:25

Crap. I'm not 100% surprised. She's got a brand to protect, and being all feminist (unapproved version) isnt it. I'll also say that she probably has had a fair bit of abuse/glass ceiling stuff from homophobia, and also that every single woman I know of with a public profile (not as public as hers) gets more abuse and threats 'in private' than you'd believe possible. Probably the last thing she needs is to stir up nutters on this. Her response was at least not full twaw, quite subtle imo.

I will be gutted if Hazel Irvine goes this way too but she probably will. I love Hazel :(

MoleSmokes · 11/11/2019 21:04

Clare Balding is a Patron of "Diversity Role Models", which seems to be another LGBT+ training organisation that leans heavy on the "T" - going by its Twitter account:

www.diversityrolemodels.org/about-us/patrons

ChattyLion · 12/11/2019 07:39

I am worried about what Diversity Role models might be teaching. I actually had thought they might be less trans centric than Stonewall as they clearly exist as an alternative. But if you look at their website, they are offering for primary kids:

Workshop Content

‘Our primary school workshops focus on exploring diverse families and teach children about the fundamental similarities that exist between all families, regardless of how they look from the outside. The highlight of this session is a story from one of our LGBT or ally role models who speak about their family. We adapt the workshop for different year groups to ensure they are engaging and age appropriate.

Year 1 and 2 workshops are based around the story And Tango Makes Three which offers an easily accessible narrative alongside beautiful illustrations, to help children understand and celebrate different families.

Years 3 to 6 students will learn definitions for lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual and transgender, as well as how to use these words in the correct context.
Years 5 and 6 students will learn about the impact of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language and how they can appropriately challenge it.

Primary school workshops are £375 for a half day and £500 for a full day. Workshops last 45-60 minutes and can be adapted to meet your school's needs.’

www.diversityrolemodels.org/education-services/student-workshops-primary

Right so obviously exploring diverse families is important and good to do but, surely that stuff above can only be teaching primary age kids that gender is real, biological sex is changeable, gender is innate and gender is so significant that it is more important than your biological sex if there has been a ‘mix up’ which makes you feel you don’t fit in, for which the explanation can be that you were really born ‘transgender’, that means there must be boy brains and girl brains.

So absolute sexist homophobic dangerous nonsense which encourages kids to worry about things they can’t understand and take medical steps they can’t understand the effects of. And which is obviously flatly contradicting the LGB (ie same-sex attracted people) education they are trying to do in the rest of the workshop..

I would be very happy to be corrected if these are incorrect assumptions I am making.

Does a lesbian like Clare Balding really agree with those ideas?

What about all the young lesbians who desist and detransition and regret these permanent changes they have made to their bodies? or who regret the years of protracted angst they have had, only to finally accept that (despite what celebrated lobby groups and social media celebs are telling them): it isn’t possible to change sex. And never has been.

When all the while they should have been taught from a young age that it’s OK to live how you want, dress how you want, in future you can love and marry another girl and be a mum, that if you are attracted to other girls that’s fine and normal and just called being a lesbian, which is a happy outcome, as would be being bi, gay (if you are a boy), or straight.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 12/11/2019 07:40

And yet what they should be learning is about how we should be looking after our elderly, those with disabilities, the homeless...

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 12/11/2019 08:02

She KNOWS what a woman is.

She is fully bloody aware of the struggles faced by women - in her working life and her personal life.

She talks about women's sport knowing full well what it means.

So how can she possibly be so blind?

mobile.twitter.com/clarebalding

ChattyLion · 12/11/2019 08:18

I hope LGB Aliiance gets lots of high profile patrons.