Emily Bridges in the news again

[BatDuck]

There’s a lot to unpack here. The violent abuse Bridges received is utter disgraceful and rightly it should be acknowledged that Bridges should be able to live Bridges life without fear or harassment.

The tenor of the debate is not helped by these woe is me articles that have been dripping into the media since the New Year. Quite frankly, it feels like propaganda as there’s no push back on the issue at play: males do not belong in female sport.

www.itv.com/news/2022-06-07/emily-bridges-had-physical-threats-after-pms-trans-participation-comments

I have secondhand experience of the world of elite cycling and all I can say is that British Cycling want the wins. Any way they can get them. Till the rules ban this as cheating, they will take advantage. Sports bodies are brutal. They want wins, they don't give a stuff about illness, injury, etc. Win. Or you're out. They'll support EB until they're told by someone else that they can't, because quite frankly, a male is their best chance of winning in the female categories, as long as their competition is all female. As we saw in the privately run race the other week, if you have 2 males in the female category, they take 2 podium places. Extrapolate that forward to every event internationally.
International sports bodies are going to have to hoist their britches and stop being such bloody cowards.

I can kind of see why British Cycling is kicking the can down the road: it gives those who would oppose such a ban the chance to get used to the idea that male bodied people should be banned from competing in classes reserved for female bodied people. Then when the ban comes along, it won’t be such a shock and there won’t be so many howls of it’s not fair/it’s transphobic/be kiiiiiiind and so on.

Trouble is Sideways I'm afraid they're waiting for this to stop being the flavour of the month/for a political change/a generational change and think that we will give up instead.

[they] think that we will give up instead

Then they’re making a naive mistake - in the last few years women have gone from a frightened whisper amongst sympathetic friends to an angry public roar over this. We’re not going away or giving up.

It really does shine a light on the utter misogyny at the heart of this: if we just kick the can down the road the silly little women will simply go away

This is not specifically about Bridges but it is the full video od the Press Conference in Edinburgh yesterday about Women's Sport

EB's mum on Twitter seems quite upset by the decision, generous (to EB's ilk) though it seems to me.

I'm not sure what I think of the mother's response to this, it can be fine balancing act as a mother, your support for your children needs to be staunch but not unconditional.

Anyway, she retweeted some posts by a trans sports person (I'll leave you to guess their sex/gender combo) arguing that trans women can't possibly get their T levels down as low as the newly required levels (i.e. very deep into the 99th percentile for females), all of which struck me as a load of old rot, including this doozy:

twitter.com/KirstiMiller30/status/1509928630050504705?t=crjpF3mpz0TbU7JshXx46w&s=19

...individuals with XY chromosomes need a higher level of testosterone those with XX chromosomes to maintain basic health, due to their androgen receptor response. t.co/1kBQFn4mmx

it's almost as if the poster is arguing that, gosh, men and women are very different, with vastly higher T levels being the norm for men.

...individuals with XY chromosomes need a higher level of testosterone those with XX chromosomes to maintain basic health, due to their androgen receptor response.

Colour me shocked: I thought that it was possible to change biological sex.

yeah, not sure.

though I did read from the same source that, "XY females CANNOT PRODUCE testosterone", which I'll admit took me a fair few moments to properly understand.

Is that 'XY females...' part talking about very specific rare DSDs?
So nothing at all to do with trans XY males, male and female being used in the correct way for sex not misused for 'gender'.

nah, I think it's just complete bollocks.

I mean, an XY 'female' such as Caster Semenya produces plenty of testosterone (courtesy of her fully functioning albeit internal testes), hence her voice breaking & otherwise typically male appearance.

I think bullets 2 and 3 on the list pretty much preclude the possibility of bullet 6 being in any way true.

similarly on the same thread the claim that there's significant overlap between male and female T levels is repeatedly, and very earnestly made, seemingly as if the poster has forgotten that the purpose of the thread is to 'prove' that a trans woman will practically turn to dust if her T levels ever stray even a hair's breath below the uppermost levels of the very top single percentile for natal women.

I cannot say what I think of Miller. Except to point out that they hate being reminded that no peri/post or menopausal female plays rugby with players decades younger and remains competitive. Apparently, Miller has twitter melt downs when reminded of that fact.

Anyway, reading Miller’s tweets brought Worley to my attention.

theconversation.com/athlete-health-and-fair-play-kristen-worley-case-puts-womens-sport-policy-in-the-dock-81361

These males have choices. They can still compete with other males.

I believe Worley is one of the main reasons we’re in this mess. Their case against the UCI and IOC started the shift to (mens) feelings over scientific fact.

Of course any male person can get their testosterone levels down to female or even near undetectable levels, they just need to take drugs like Leuprorelin (a chemical castration agent used to treat prostate cancer). These drugs are totally safe, harmless and reversible, so activists tell us, when given to 'trans' children, right?

All this rubbish about testosterone is just a distraction to make the UCI look like they're being fair when the evidence shows it still throws women under the bus. The UCI just want men in womens sport for ideological reasons while pretending they aren't science denying misogynists.

If males can’t bring their testosterone down to average female levels without severe health impacts, maybe it’s because our bodies are not designed to cope with any such interventions. It’s not an argument for letting people compete in the wrong sex class.

yeah, it's a nonsense.

concerned female athlete: you're not, in pure physical terms, a woman... I mean, just look at the sixth of you, for starters.

TW: but I've taken a course of medication to get my T levels down.

CFA: oh, down to female levels?

TW: what?? you must be joking, are you saying i should jeapordise my health? but, look, my T levels are now, I can assure you, relatively low by the standards of a prime aged adult male. what more do you bigots expect me to do??

am I imagining this, or a few weeks ago didn't momma bridges claim that Emily's T levels were now lower than those of 59 year old natal woman Sharron Davies? either I'm imagining this or evidence of that claim seems to have vanished?

I noticed Emily’s mum is also miffed that the ciclewomen event that some male pulled out of sponsoring recently is going ahead thanks in part by people who they like to monster.

It must be infuriating to have had such hateful (as judged by EB’s mum) people step in immediately to ensure females got the opportunity to race when a male made a political statement at the 11th hour the way he did.

It annoys me that they’ve decided testosterone levels are the thing which determines whether someone can compete in the female competition and yet there’s a hissy fit over the suggestion that transwomen get their levels down to actual female levels. They don’t even want to abide by their own nonsense criteria. If it’s dangerous for transwomen to achieve female hormone levels then maybe hormone levels is a shit criteria?

Emily bridges said “I just want to compete with other females”, and yet is now complaining that due to their xy chromosomes they need a higher level of testosterone to maintain health. So Emily is female, but would become unhealthy at standard female hormone levels ? How odd! It’s almost like Emily is male after all.

It seems entirely ok for some people to set their own terms in cycling: Thundercrit non- binary races, the sponsor of CiCLE, just as long as they are aligned with the politics of EB’s mum. It’s not ok for women to campaign for their own sports not sponsor their own races in her book.
You can’t have a reasoned discussion with these people because they’re personally invested in reaching their aim - to win at all costs, just like Lance Armstrong and all the riders caught up in Operation Puerto.

Emily’s statement when Emily was disbarred from the British Omnium stated that “my testosterone level has been far below the limit proscribed by the Regulations for the last 12 months”.

Were you thinking of this retweeted Sharron Davies tweet? And you can still see Emily’s mother’s reply.

If you consider that menopause causes women’s T level to drop by about half then is she really suggesting that Emily’s T level is around 1 - 1.5 nmol/l?

Probably referring to Swyer Syndrome?

Sorry - pressed post too soon. Yes, a rare, DSD, and has about as much to do with Emily Bridges' situation as I do with a pickled egg.

Gosh. Calling Sharron Davies a well known transphobe sounds like libel to me. Ms Sullivan should be more careful.