@tabbycatstripy
Absolutely no interest in watching Bridges coast to a few second or third-places finishes so Bridges can say, ‘Look - testosterone suppression!’ then ‘happen upon’ a record-breaking ride in a particular race.
None. I won’t be watching any sports until this gets sorted out FAIRLY.
Simply not winning every race seems to be taken as proof that males can compete fairly in female sport, even though we know cyclists who were doping didn't win every race and we still rightly regard them as cheats. As if that wasn't bad enough, Bridges has declared an intention to prove the testosterone suppression rules are fair, right back in 2020, in this article:
www.skysports.com/more-sports/cycling/news/15264/12101251/emily-bridges-coming-out-as-trans-in-cycling-is-a-crucial-step-on-my-journey with this quote
"To help achieve this, I'm going to be part of research into the effect that a medical transition has on athletic performance. This will, as far as I'm aware, be the first time that an elite-level international athlete has done this. I understand this will be extremely useful research. I really want to demonstrate what effect hormone replacement therapy has on the body, and how it massively changes athletic performance in multiple ways.I know that people will have questions about fairness. I feel I have an opportunity to show that the existing eligibility rules for trans athletes in competition are appropriate."
So Bridges, along with study leader Joanna Harper, know the result they want to achieve. Harper says in several interviews that transwomen should be included female sports categories using vague terms like "meaningful competition", despite having had to concede that the testosterone rules do not reduce male advantage(because that's what the data shows) in this review:
How does hormone transition in transgender women change body composition, muscle strength and haemoglobin? Systematic review with a focus on the implications for sport participation
Joanna Harper, Emma O’Donnell, Behzad Sorouri Khorashad, Hilary McDermott, Gemma L Witcomb
Br J Sports Med 2021;0:1–9. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-103106
Despite the early data, Harper's research looking at transgender athlete performance is not using any method to make sure athletes are not deliberately or unconsciously underperforming when they collect data for the study (Ross Tucker says so in the podcast here www.womensrights.network/wrn-podcast ).
So now we have at least one athlete and a researcher who want to prove testosterone suppression rules are fair, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, who have a study that cannot show that because it doesn't include a way to ensure underperformance isn't happening. They don't even have to be underperforming deliberately, anyone who works in medical research knows that double-blind trials (where both heathcare staff and patients don't know which treatment a patient is getting) are necessary due to completely unconscious bias that people cannot control, no matter how honest they are, that can lead to measurements being recorded a bit low or high, according to whatever the bias is.
This is what makes me doubly angry, it's not just the attack on women's sports, it's the poor science which will no doubt get cited everywhere as "proof" that males should be in female sport if they want to be.