British Rowing - Imminent Announcement?

[SabrinaThwaite]

The Telegraph is reporting that British Rowing to ban transgender athletes from women's events after members urge policy change in a policy announcement expected tomorrow.

… the governing body has decided to follow the majority view of its 31,500 members, more than 80 per cent of whom are understood to have urged a change in approach that would ensure the fairness and integrity of the female category.

… under the revised rules, these events are to be protected exclusively for rowers who are biologically female.

Rowing is the last of the big Olympic sports in the UK to have been sitting on the fence about allowing males in the women’s category.

Fingers crossed that this happens.

You can put the following link into an archive service to read it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rowing/2023/08/02/british-rowing-transgender-athletes-womens-sport/

British Rowing to ban transgender athletes from women's events

Even transgender females?
Hate this assumption that "trans" means "transwoman". And means the paper had a more sensationalist "BANS!!!" headline than "requires them to compete in appropriate sex category"....

Anyway, be interesting to see...

Transmen on T can’t compete in the women’s category because it would be doping. A TUE covers taking a banned substance to compete in the men’s category.

And yes, transwomen would be banned from the women’s category, as per the headline. But not from the male or male / open category.

Which is as it should be.

🙏

They are rowing back on this one

If transmen had taken testosterone, that would rule them out of the female category due to doping.

Ba-dum! Tsss.

I’m cautiously pleased to hear this. I can’t imagine why anyone who has ever rowed could think that allowing male bodied people to compete in women’s events was in any way acceptable.
My DS and DD were both excellent scullers. If anything, DD was marginally better, technically. But as he was six inches taller and two stone heavier than her, DS could beat DD hands down over any distance.

badum tish!!!

😁

I hope the trailer is correct.

It is really personally painful when your own sport is in question, and when some prominent women [cough Kath Grainger cough] seem genuinely to think that sex doesn't matter in rowing.

These days I have to say that I notice those who've never said anything publicly and assume that they are speaking up for women's sport behind the scenes.

Sure, but being a man is a feeling, isn't it? No requirement to alter bodies.

I can’t imagine why anyone who has ever rowed could think that allowing male bodied people to compete in women’s events was in any way acceptable.

Me neither. It makes zero sense.

Yet again the comments are full on TERF, with much fury that women's sport has ever been handed over to men.

@PermanentTemporary
Not Katherine Grainger, surely? That is sheer lunacy.
I wonder if she ever tried out for a men's pair? 🙄

I'm pleased to hear they are not afraid to rock the boat on this

More than 80% eh?

so contrary to what we are told it’s a minority view that men should compete with women.

I'm surprised that nearly 20% of members think that the current policy is OK. Why do so many think it?

Good news. Hopefully it's accurate.

The general public were 61% against males in women’s sport in the last YouGov trans poll (2022). Only 16% supportive.

I’m not surprised that it’s 80% against allowing males in women’s sport amongst those who are actively involved in sport.

😍

Keep the coxes out of women's rowing!

Wait ...

I am 100% supportive of trans people in rowing. I think it's an amazing sport that can liberate people from body consciousness and has suffered from sexist, racist and classist limitations for too long. It should be open to everyone. I've enjoyed rowing in women's and mixed sex crews. I've even done a bit of coxing (am terrible at it though).

None of that means I think that male people should row in women's crews because women's rowing would somehow be better that way. Because that is rank misogyny. And if you're a female rower, you damn well know misogyny up close.

No men in women's sport!... just putting my oar in.

Could be a load of rowlocks?

Yes but given we currently have headlines in the first openly trans player playing in the fifa women’s World Cup, by which they mean a female identifying as a man playing in a women’s team, as they should be, it’s hardly irrelevant, and obviously they don’t all take testosterone.

Quinn doesn’t identify as a man though - Quinn identifies as non-binary and is not on T but has had a bilateral mastectomy.

Quinn is a bit of a non-story in some ways though - female footballer plays for female football team. The issue with Quinn is that someone having radical surgery to treat gender dysphoria or being gender non-conforming is being held up as some kind of role model.

Quinn is making a very good living for theyself being so special.

In rowing, just like in cycling, because your body is essentially static and attached to a machine by 3 fixed points (hands, bum, feet) biomechanics and other physical attributes rather than technique is more of a factor in determining success as opposed to sports like tennis or swimming.

Talent scouts go out into schools and stick the tall kids on rowing machines, measure their torso to limb ratio and their lung capacity, those with the best vital stats can be taught to row, there isnt much technique to it.

Men are taller on average have a greater lung capacity and crucially, their hip anatomy allows them to generate way more power than a womans. None of these advantages would be reduced by suppressing testosterone.

Allowing males to compete against women in rowing is bonkers. There is just no way those hard wired, baked in physical advantages can be removed.