Hannah Arensman speaks out

[DdraigGoch]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2023/05/19/hannah-arensman-austin-killips-cyclist-transgender/

Why on earth should sports be split by gender? There’s logic to splitting them by sex, no justification at all for splitting by gender.

It's interesting to reflect on the different levels of awareness in different sports. Transwomen are making an impact in all sports that allow their inclusion, but some are more visible than others. Self ID is more damaging than lowered testosterone, but it's all a problem.
I do think solo sports are easier for women to speak out in - it's certainly not 'easy' for those brave women who are doing it, of course - but in team games it is very hard to speak out, when others on the team don't want you to rock the boat.

I do think what needs to be clear is that someone who has an Olympic place has already won. Like Laurel Hubbard. I think there are something like 14 spots in the Olympics for women weightlifters - that's 14, total, in the world. Laurel Hubbard got one of those and is an Olympian for the rest of their life. Their shitty post injury performance at 20 years older than the other competitors was extremely poor but they had already taken that place.

In that case the Olympic authorities wilted under the spotlight and issued a wild card place to the young champion of colour that Laurel's selection had excluded. It was just a mess.

Does anyone remember the ‘red book’ for their child after they gave birth? I would regularly get my kids checked out to make sure they were okay. There was a red book for male children and a red book for female children Because they’re different.

It's weird that some posters worry about subscribing to the DT because they think it is right wing (right wing is a crime?) while having no qualms about subscribing to the Guardian which is left wing. The DT is not really that right wing. It is right of centre but pretty much only on political/economic issues - less right than the Guardian is left, if you see what I mean - and is certainly no friend now of the Tory party. But for the issues we care about in feminism and gender - women's rights, women's sports, women's spaces, also women in business - it is firmly on women's side.

The DT, like all newspapers now in a dying industry, is scrambling for stories that fit the views of its existing readers and may gather more clicks. I think it's possible to agree with some of its stories without thinking it's some massive force for good.