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?

And new surf trans policy allowing males who have reduced testosterone to 5nml for 1 year.

www.theinertia.com/surf/world-surf-league-releases-policy-for-transgender-athletes/

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To clarify, no “apparently” about it.

Bethany was a top young surfer, until she lost her arm to a shark.

she’s battled long and hard to get back to the top of female surfing, have her adaptations approved so she can continue competing.

there’s a film about her “soul surfer”.

her platform is bigger than most, so her support, so vocal and so quick, is huge.

Thanks for that info. I’ve no knowledge of surfing at all so didn’t want to accidentally misinform.

Good for Bethany and all the young women (and men) athletes having to courage to speak out against this travesty.

It's a shame theat Dame Kelly Holmes has gone in the other direction at the same moment that current female athletes are finally starting to speak up.

Interesting posts about lottery funding, thanks for those. It's such a difficult situation for the athletes. I can see why you would think 'it probably won't affect me. I probably won't meet a tw in competition' and fear losing funding or sponsorship. It's such a massive failure by the leadership.

US rowers speaking up!

www.rowingnews.com/2023/02/04/usrowings-new-gender-identity-policy-sparks-controversy/

Wow! At least they should be consistent!

“USRowing made sure that fairness and competition was protected for boys and men by defining eligibility based on sex in only one category—the mixed-boats category,” said O’Connor, who was among the Yale women who stripped naked and wrote “Title IX” on their bodies in 1976 to advance women’s sports.

“Why? Because if they did not do so, that would make competition unfair for men potentially if the men were competing in a mixed event against boats with males who identified as women.

Bethany Hamilton is 💯% a surfing legend.

She’s cool as fuck and might get through to some younger women and teen girls in the be kind phase.

Eilish McColgan is finding her voice on Twitter too.

"You do realise that if TW are compete against cis men, then cis women face TM"

Is this supposed to be a gotcha? Nobody cares so long as they are not doping with testosterone.

I don’t think “Emilia” is the sharpest tool in the box, as they don’t understand the meaning of an open category.

Interesting......transmen could never compete with women if they were taking testosterone. Remember the Russian athletes in the in the late 1960's and so it continued on until 2014? Sharon Davies has a lot to say, she was denied a gold medal.

Sharron Davies isn't impressed with this transwoman demanding the right to play contact rugby against women:

twitter.com/sharrond62/status/1622171235894403072

Think that person has a crowdfunder on the go but had a long way to go to hit the target.

Still, a legal challenge would be one way to clarify the law, especially given the EHRC’s statement on the UKA policy announcement.

I've tried listening to what a heroine of mine, Billie Jean King, has to say, and it's not entirely clear. She has the best track record of advocating for women and gay rights in sport and elsewhere. Her biography is quite harrowing on the subject of her abortion. And she speaks out on the subject.
But she seems to say everyone needs to be included (be kind) and she's a big fan of the science. Yet she won't make the leap. If someone can prove me wrong I'd love it because up to this point I've admire BJK so much.

Looks like she’s pro male inclusion.

amp.marca.com/en/tennis/2023/01/03/63b41a58ca4741c20d8b4587.html

Oh @Signalbox that's so sad. I do hope she changes her mind. She'll be on the wrong side of history with this one

www.news.com.au/sport/more-sports/surfing-icon-to-will-boycott-events-after-landmark-transgender-decision/news-story/54835d0e84f7a2802c2f14b0aec06ce5

Same with Dame Kelley Holmes. I find it so sad that her natural reaction was that it was wrong but after "re-education" has now changed her position. I wonder who convinced her that her gut instinct was wrong? She must know deep down. I wonder if she'll return to reality at some point.

Former GB international sprinter James Ellington has had a telling off from England Athletics for supporting women's rights

twitter.com/mara_yamauchi/status/1624071263177015301

Wow! Unusual to see a chap being tone policed!

Meanwhile this is what actual female athletes experience from British Athletics:

www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2022/12/23/anyika-onuora-interview-dont-think-abuse-sport-going-stop/

I've name changed but I am a regular I promise.

My brother coaches a female team in a sport at university level. He's an ex elite athlete himself but is well into his late 40s now so too old (and too injured) to play at anything but club level now.

He has found out that there are plans to play against men in a supposedly open tournament and he has stood up for womens rights.

The others involved in the team threw the "be kind transwomen" into the mix and he has bombarded them with facts and figures and given them to the end of this month to go back to single sex squads or he will resign his position. He's also going to advise the international authority.

It looks like he's going to have to go.

I couldn't be prouder of him. He gets it.