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 didn’t think I did, no.

I do have some empathy for Bridges. It must be awful to be told the rules are XYZ and then have them change at the last moment. But they were unfair.

I’d bet by mortgage on there having been no “avalanche” of violent threats.
Bridges mother is active on Twitter and despite occasional checking her replies, I’ve seen very little pushback on most of her tweets. There may have been some aggressive or threatening comments but they appear to be well tucked away and barely mentioned in this long article on EB.

and , the photo shoots 🤣 check out the photos 😂.

Paul Brand is the ITV political editor, his husband is a senior civil servant at Downing Street.

Brand is a member of many LGBT charities and campaigns, and seemingly always gets the scoop about Downing Street goings-on.

ITV are not to be trusted to give a balanced report on this, and quite frankly it's another article by ITV over why Johnson should be sacked.

Perhaps Bridges mother should be careful with her own social media modus operandi. She regularly abuses women on Twitter. Mara Yamauchi was targeted by her this week and she was harassing some poor GP the previous week for having the temerity to care about womens sport.

1. Violence or threats of violence against anyone are wrong. End of. No excuses. No justifications. Wrong.
2. "I'm scared a lot of the time about being who I am in public". Welcome to the lived experience of womanhood. Quite a lot of us are scared in public, at least some of the time, and selfpolice our dress, behaviour, where we go and how late we stay out accordingly. That - far more than the eye makeup or the heels - is what it is to live as a woman.
3. "I can't race in men's [racing] anymore. It's not something that I'm prepared to put myself through again." Then don't. I'm a runner. I don't put myself through road marathons cos they're horrible. Racing is not mandatory. You can choose never to line up on the start line of a male race again. But that doesn't mean you get to race with the women.

Yep, this thread is being 'monitored'!

Waves to monitors

watch as much as you like. It won’t change the response on twitter which is primarily “nope, not a woman”

And when the time comes that I am selected, or put in a pool for selection, I will compete with other athletes as they do, as they compete with their fellow athletes, for spots.

"Only a certain number of people can be selected. I don't want special treatment from anyone, I just want the same opportunities as my fellow female athletes."

Dear Emily Bridges,

You can identify however you like, call yourself what you like, wear what you like. Good for you.
You are not, and will never be 'a female athlete'. Therefore you ARE asking for special treatment, and you are wrong in calling the female competitors 'my fellow female athletes'.

You cannot ever be a female athlete on account of the fact that you are not female.

Best wishes,

Nancy

Welcome to the lived experience of womanhood.

I know that I identified with every bit of this story.

It wasn’t the first time, either – and it certainly wasn’t the last. I’ve had men shout at me, whisper, growl, purr, whistle, and catcall me on buses, tubes, ferries, bikes and trains; as well as say that they’re going to stab, shoot, rape and kill me when I’ve been travelling on my own at night.

Turns out I’m not alone – a recent report has revealed that nearly half of all UK women feel unsafe using public transport alone at night.

metro.co.uk/2022/06/07/im-sick-of-being-terrified-of-being-a-woman-on-public-transport-16784358/

The abuse is obviously awful,

BUT

Emily: “There’s been public pressure to stop me racing”.

No, Emily!! There’s been public pressure to stop you cheating!

This should be the poster for acceptance and inclusion in sport.. openly trans athlete competing without harassment.

While It is true that Emily made the decision to transition (eventually) some time ago it is also true that she decided to postpone her transition until after the Paris Olympics. Up until her injury put paid to competing as a male she was perfectly happy it seems to continue to live and compete as a male if it got her a place in the Olympic team. Her injury, and being dropped from the elite squad clearly brought her transition forward. Lucky for her she had a back up option. Injured female athletes, and most injured male athletes don’t have that luxury.

One of ITV tweets says 'The one thing missing from a sea of often extreme views on trans athletes competing at a professional level has, until now, been her voice'. I genuinely recommend listening to Emily's voice and the complaints in the interview. It's illuminating, all by itself

any threats are disgraceful, of course, but her description of her fear would be a little more compelling coming from someone who wasn't a six foot plus muscular athlete.

@ChateauMargaux that's an amazing image! I 100% applaud transwomen being accepted as by their fellow male competitors and teammates. In just the same way, I am delighted that male footballers are feeling increasingly able to say they're gay. Both should be a non-issue. Should have been so for decades, in fact. That's all good.

I can see that transwomen athletes have to make a difficult decision about whether to simply transition socially and in terms of dress, or to take hormones for a 'better' transition but with the inevitable impact on performance. In the same way, female athletes have to make difficult decisions about motherhood, with its inevitable impact on training and their career. And even amateur athletes like me have to decide if we're going to go to that party, or get an early night for the next day's training run.

Those decisions are a deeply personal balancing of priorities, and I wouldn't second guess an athlete either way. But, whatever decisions are made, male athletes should not be competing in womens events.

Women have been harassed and threatened for years for daring to discuss what’s happening to their sports. We’ve had women on this board tell us their stories, how British Cycling has treated women appallingly, how they’ve lost their sport.
Bridges has never ever shown any sympathy for those women.

If I never said no to my kids, I imagine they’d end up self-centred and selfish, expecting the world to cave in to their wants and desires. Thank goodness I have always had firm boundaries in place with my children and they hear the word NO plenty of times.

I always think of this image when I hear people say sport is not inclusive.

Male puberty has certainly endowed Emily with height, a male pelvis, male physiology , and heart and lung size to match. I do hope accurate data is being kept on how those elements of Emily’s physique are changing/ not changing. She doesn’t seem to be getting smaller, but heck, if the data is there, let’s see it.

The pregnancy comparison is very apt, I think. The narrative should be about choices.

Useful infographic on men v women in sport for any lurkers

Yes, and there are acceptable choices and unacceptable.

Acceptable:

1. Decide coming out isn't for you right now.
2. Socially transition, but choose not to take drugs in order to prioritise your physical performance.
3. Socially and medically transition, accepting the impact on performance.
4. Retire from sport, and do something else.

Whichever of these the athlete chooses, there should be zero tolerance for violence, abuse, threats, pisstaking...

Not acceptable:

1. Race with women.

Its pure male entitlement, which frankly needs to start being recognised as one of the most dangerous aspects of male behaviour. I want it so I will have it, regardless of how it impacts anyone else - particularly females because because they are less than me. The entire world needs to stop pandering to this behaviour and thinking. It is behind the vast majority of male violence, and its impact on our children and our natural world is devastating.