Elite sports people speaking up!

[Signalbox]

There seems to be an increasing number of sports people speaking up about the problem of males completing in women's sports which is positive. Thought it might be useful to have a thread of those who are risking sticking their heads above the parapet. Obviously the likes of Sharon Davies, Mara Yamauchi and Martina Navratilova have been bravely doing this for sometime but now we appear to have a few current athletes as well who are prepared to risk the mob to ensure women have fair competition. Is it too much to hope for that there will be a snowball effect?

The organisers of these things can SEE exactly what happens when boys get to compete against girls. They run and swim faster and this one put a shot 3 feet further than the record for a girl of his age. They're just twisted.

How fucked up is that! That these girls protested and in a respectful way and have been severely punished.

I wonder if that will stop the 'why don't they just not compete!' lazy arsed comments. We already knew that women and girls were punished for even discussing it and that teams have been significantly penalised for forfeiting.

deta headman refuses to play against TW noa Lynn van leuven

good for her!

https://www.live-darts.com/wdf-darts/hedman-forfeits-match-against-van-leuven/

https://reduxx.info/breaking-female-darts-star-forfeits-denmark-open-match-against-trans-identified-male-in-protest-of-his-inclusion-in-the-womens-category/

Well done Deta Hedman. I hope the same happens in the next 2 rounds making Noa-Lynn champion by default. The producers will befurious and it is humiliating for the transwomen, but it seems the only way for women to be heard. I hope the other female competeters left in the competion have this courage

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/darts/2024/05/06/british-darts-player-forfeits-tournament-transgender-oppone/ covered in Telegraph, too

Well done for that. On the question of transgender, she is wrong. She's entitled to her opinion but writing a children's book does not make her opinions that important.
The transphobic argument ignores certain things-

• There are trans from women to men
• The fertility argument is not relevant to post menopausal women. Do we cease to be a woman once we can not conceive or are we ex-women?
• Personally I look forward to the day when all sport is open to all genders equally, possibly lessening the never ending competitiveness of sport which has led to massive funding issues, doping, bribes etc.

You may say I'm a deamer but I'm not the only one.

The whole point of sport (in nearly all cases) is to be competitive. If you don't understand that, you don't understand much about sport. And because of that, we have (or used to have) common-sense rules, like women rugby players and footballers don't complete against men, and flyweight boxers don't take on heavyweights.

I’m an infertile woman, I’m still a woman because my body was designed around the production of large gametes and the bearing of children. The fact my biology is faulty doesn’t make me a man

all genders are indeed welcome in sport but we still separate sport by sex because men are enormously physically and socially advantaged over women. The fact that you don’t think sport isn’t important doesn’t come into it. The fact is is that it’s a global billion pound business which billions of people around the world participate in or spectate and enjoy. In your “dreamer” world the only winners would be men

As a perimenopausal women in my late forties, who until last year was still competing in a contact team sport in a league where I was expected to play against trans self-IDing males, I can assure you that sex segregation has only become more important to me.

The impact of declining oestrogen on the robustness of your body is no joke, at exactly the same time you would gain most from the health benefits of sport. I left the sport both because of the effects of perimenopause and the increasing inclusion of males.

Why is it humiliating for the transwomen?

Well done Deta.

You might be a dreamer but you clearly aren’t a sportswoman.

Helen Joyce has explained it brilliantly in many sports (in relation to her sister an international cricketer and how categories work eg. Adult not playing against children)

Personally I look forward to the day when all sport is open to all genders equally, possibly lessening the never ending competitiveness of sport which has led to massive funding issues, doping, bribes etc.

I honestly don’t get this argument. If you think that all the “genders” should compete together and competition is a bad thing then why can’t TW and all the other blokes with special identities just go right ahead and compete in the male / open category where they belong and leave women alone to compete with each other?

Why is it humiliating for the transwomen?

Presumably because if you end up winning a tournament where everyone has refused to play on principle it all becomes a bit of a charade. I would certainly feel humiliated. But I think people forget that these men are likely to be narcissistic and are possibly even getting a thrill out of being humiliated.

Well, I thought that we were free to express opinions. I do know about sport enjoyed playing it and watching it. I don't agree that sport has to be so competitive. Nor does it have to be linked to vast profits, bribery and doping etc.
I don't know why trans people (men and women) are believed to be enjoying humiliation.

You are indeed free to express opinions which you’ve done. We are equally free to say why we think you’re wrong

and this is not about TM who know full well they would get beaten out of sight if they started trying to play in men’s sport it’s about men larping as women muscling their way into women’s sport

Competitive sport involves being competitive shocker.

This is the lazy person's argument. The ones who don't get sport and just say "why isn't everyone just competing together" and "what's the big deal".

If it's not competitive, to some degree, it's not sport it's exercise. None competitive football would be people passing a ball about not trying to score a goal. None competitive boxing would be two people in a ring bobbing and weaving but not throwing punches. Not competitive running is going for a jog alone or with people who promise to match the pace of the slowest runner. The point of the sport is complete.

I've paid good money for tickets to Wimbledon this year but if when I get there they said we are trying something new this year, we aren't keeping score just knocking the ball back and forth and when it goes out starting again I would want my money back.

Exactly. It’s great to be active in all sorts of ways, including as a hobby or simply for improved health.

But that’s a different thing to sports competition.

If you aren’t competitive or aren’t interested in watching others be competitive, then go enjoy some other sort of activity and leave the competitive people to enjoy the competition.

Fair play Deta. 🏆

And aye. It is all about fair play.

Competitive sport is a very enjoyable and motivating way to exercise. It encourages you to strive and work harder at your fitness. It gets you out on those cold weekend mornings when you'd rather stay in bed. It leads to life-long friendships and unique experiences. It's ok if it's not for you, but the benefits are enormous for those of us that value it.

Perhaps we could just reorganise competitive sport around special identities and give out medals to the swishiest hair or the prettiest nails rather than female athletic performance?

Looks like Deta is another woman not to be messed with 💪