Transwomen and sport

[TWETMIRF]

Just an idle pondering due to sporting bodies starting to put their foot down and protect women's sport.

Transwomen were given the opportunity to show that they respect women and the particular sport in which they play. Insisting on being in the women's rather than men's sections proves that they don't respect either.

The eligibility conditions are fine, no pointless faffing around with irrelevant testosterone levels, cover all levels of competition, quotes the EA2010 provisions relating to sport, refers to Hilton and Lindberg's meta-analysis paper. Great. But annoyingly, the policy does not aim to protect players from discrimination on the basis of sex - only "gender", which is used in the introductory statement as if it was a synonym for sex, then defined lower on the next page as something else which is in opposition to sex. Muddled thinking.

And as for reviewing badminton next year to see if it is still a "gender-affected" sport... Honestly. What do they think is going to happen in terms of human evolution in 12 months?

Yep. Some woolly thinking which is no surprise with Badminton England. However it's a big turn around from their previous position as it covers all tiers of current BE sanctioned competitions.