Page 12 | Breaking news - Emily won't compete

Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky · 02/04/2022 09:04

Didn’t EB mum turn up on here last year to tell us how awful we were? 🤔

FrancescaContini · 02/04/2022 09:09

@Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky

Didn’t EB mum turn up on here last year to tell us how awful we were? 🤔

EB has probably grown up never being told NO and being told he’s the centre of the universe. Hence the victim stance when being told NO now.

Poor EB

MrsOvertonsWindow · 02/04/2022 09:10

The comments (from a majority of men I think) under Emily's whingeing article are brutal.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b9874f1e-b1e8-11ec-8570-b43daaf58ea1?shareToken=3663f077feb6dbc29ac823aad56fa97a

tabbycatstripy · 02/04/2022 09:12

This is always going to come down to individual ‘first’ cases, not just rules. It’s unfortunate that people have to be named and talked about, but if they want to demonstrate that they should be competing in the female category, there isn’t really another option than everyone seeing their physique and presentation. And we have the right to point out that they don’t share the characteristics of the other competitors.

Bridges’ statement suggests that people are somehow “pre-judging” by doing this before Bridges competes. I don’t believe seeing Bridges compete could logically change my judgment.

Saltovinegar · 02/04/2022 09:14

What a self entitled, narcissistic, teenage twerp. The whole article could just have been the words me me me me repeatedly.

Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky · 02/04/2022 09:20

Ok so to take EB logic about not pre judging. Just suppose EB is allowed to compete and beats all the women out of sight? Would EB then accept that no one was prejudging and were in fact right alll along that EB retained significant advantage from male puberty & return to race with the men?

Would they fuck!

Monitaurus · 02/04/2022 09:21

Today radio 4 declared that “ she” was being bullied for being trans. I think it is more a question of women saying no to an entitled man. Hardly bullying.

BreatheAndFocus · 02/04/2022 09:29

I do think Emily should have been given more notice of this, but I don’t think any male should be competing in women’s sports. There might be a very small number of sports where it doesn’t matter, but the default rule should be no males whatever their identity or testosterone level. Then , if there is a sport where sex differences are irrelevant, the onus should be on the male persons to prove this - that their natal sex gives them zero advantage.

The thinking makes no sense. Emily’s lower testosterone is supposedly a ‘handicap’ that allows Emily to compete with women, but other males might have different things that affect their performance eg maybe they injured their leg. We don’t let them compete in women’s sport.

Women’s sport is to give women a chance to compete fairly. It’s not to provide validation for people’s identities. I don’t see why someone like EB can’t live socially ‘as a woman’ (whatever that means) yet compete with males in sport. Calling the men’s category the Open category would reduce any issues.

FrancescaContini · 02/04/2022 09:30

@Monitaurus

Today radio 4 declared that “ she” was being bullied for being trans. I think it is more a question of women saying no to an entitled man. Hardly bullying.

Was this R4’s view, or did they quote EB as saying this?

Fucksake, being “bullied”. What a load of gaslighting bullshit

Runningupthecurtains · 02/04/2022 09:32

@Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky

Ok so to take EB logic about not pre judging. Just suppose EB is allowed to compete and beats all the women out of sight? Would EB then accept that no one was prejudging and were in fact right alll along that EB retained significant advantage from male puberty & return to race with the men?

Would they fuck!

I'm heading towards 50, I have watched sports (a huge variety of sports - it's a standing joke in our house that I would watch paint dry if someone was given a medal at the end) for most of my life so with 40 + years of watching team sports, individual sports, contact sports, non-contact sports, winter sports, summer sports, professional sport, amateur sport..... I don't need to watch one particular person with the advantages of male puberty compete against women to know that have an advantage I have seen that men are quicker and stronger than women day in day out for years.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 02/04/2022 09:33

Bullied? Come now R4.

Standing up and speaking out for something that will unfairly impact on others is not bullying.

Just because the magic word is uttered doesn’t make it so.

tabbycatstripy · 02/04/2022 09:37

It’s just nonsense, isn’t it? The whole point is that we don’t care that EB is trans. That’s the irrelevant part. Nobody is inviting male people into female sports but excluding trans people - that would be unfair discrimination.

Recognising that EB does not have a female body is fair discrimination.

tabbycatstripy · 02/04/2022 09:38

‘Would EB then accept that no one was prejudging and were in fact right alll along that EB retained significant advantage from male puberty & return to race with the men?’

Doubtful.

Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky · 02/04/2022 09:39

I agree Running. I was just tackling EB view that we were all prejudging what would happen ie that they would beat the women by miles and that if it turned out we were right and they did best the women by miles (I know right?) would EB accept that they were wrong & race with the men? Of course they wouldn’t.

FrancescaContini · 02/04/2022 09:41

@tabbycatstripy

It’s just nonsense, isn’t it? The whole point is that we don’t care that EB is trans. That’s the irrelevant part. Nobody is inviting male people into female sports but excluding trans people - that would be unfair discrimination.

Recognising that EB does not have a female body is fair discrimination.

More crucially - recognising that he doesn’t have a female body is the TRUTH. Nothing will ever change this.

All the debate around testosterone levels yada yada - it’s all obfuscation. It’s all deliberate diversion tactics. As such, it’s IRRELEVANT because EB doesn’t have a female body. Therefore, EB shouldn’t be competing as a woman.

It’s actually very simple.

Runningupthecurtains · 02/04/2022 09:49

If EB races against women and loses it still won't be fair.

Lovelyricepudding · 02/04/2022 09:50

@Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky

Ok so to take EB logic about not pre judging. Just suppose EB is allowed to compete and beats all the women out of sight? Would EB then accept that no one was prejudging and were in fact right alll along that EB retained significant advantage from male puberty & return to race with the men?

Would they fuck!

Even if they lost by a large margin they still shouldn't be competing with women and they would still have taken a women's place in the race and denied her her opportunity to race.

Fizbosshoes · 02/04/2022 09:52

If men and women were virtually the same, (with varying levels of testosterone ) why are they segregated for almost all sports? Surely everyone would just compete together and women would be winning some of the time....
Except that doesn't happen. Because men almost always have a physical advantage - strength, speed, muscle mass, they can jump higher and further, throw things further etc etc
Exceptions I can think of are horse racing (Rachael Blackmore) ultra running (Jessica Paris) and Sailing.

FemaleAndLearning · 02/04/2022 09:53

@Saltovinegar

What a self entitled, narcissistic, teenage twerp. The whole article could just have been the words me me me me repeatedly.

Bridges is 21.

NitroNine · 02/04/2022 09:54

I would be astonished if EB’s childhood experience wasn’t of “they’re bullying me!” working the same magic accusations of transphobia [usually] do now

YouSetTheTone · 02/04/2022 10:00

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/60960213

Another finely balanced article here from the BBC…. Looks like it was written by Emily Bridge’s mum.

How about quoting any high profile female sportswomen who have spoken about the importance of fairness? Or a group like Fair Play for Women alongside Stonewall. This affects WOMEN so why don’t we get mentioned?

Saltovinegar · 02/04/2022 10:02

I see the thread police are out this morning. Pardon me for making a mistake.

Runningupthecurtains · 02/04/2022 10:07

Am I the only one that can spot an inconsistency between "Bridges says that, for the last six month, she has been in contact with......" and "required riders to have had testosterone levels below...for a twelve month period"?

Artichokeleaves · 02/04/2022 10:17

I've had the 'insisting there will be no exception to the usual rules for a TQ+ person is bullying/transphobic harassment/microagression' stuff at work before now.

No. EB is not being 'bullied' by female people saying no to racing with a male person; it has nothing to do with EB being trans, it is has everything to do with EB being male.

I am deeply cynical about all studies TW athletes are taking part in to demonstrate the impact of testosterone on their performance since very, very obviously those athletes have major skin in the game, and it is very much in their interests for the results to show one particular outcome. This makes it absolutely impossible to get a fair test on performance. We already have open accusations of Thomas and of Hubbard having intentionally thrown competitions for their own purposes in managing their PR and optics to protect their competing against females. Who does this help?

Female bodies are not low testosteroned, disempowered males. Female sport is for female bodies. TQ+ female bodies very much welcomed within the standard rules.

Noisyprat · 02/04/2022 10:32

I'm actually beginning to wonder if this would have happened if Laura Kenny hadn't been competing. I wonder if they were just shit scared of the fallout if EN beat Kenny. I mean can you imagine the headlines!