Sharron Davies in the Times

[Igneococcus]

Talking about a report from the Policy Exchange.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/83d04ca3-f655-4e8b-9cdf-62ef458c9541?shareToken=3285382a57e56778f2eeb93e02d65c1c

Daley Thompson has a similar one in the Mail; I can't do a link on my phone. He covers sports and later, transw in prisons and refuges.

Link to the DM here (awaits scolding from those who would never read the DM).
It's front page of the Times online edition.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12908457/trans-athletes-female-events-finished-DALEY-THOMPSON.html

Both great - especially Sharron and Martina being clear it's all levels of sport. But it is really great to see a piece by a man like Daley's as well. We need more men in this. I know he's been in it for a while but this new article is really good. Let's hope he brings more men out saying the same.

Thank you Sharron, Martina and Daley!

Good article. It's getting steadily clearer in the public narrative.

“There is a sense within sports policy that while we should protect the female category within elite sports, women and girls participating and competing at amateur levels should budge over. They must ‘be kind’ and ‘inclusive’ while having to pretend that it is not grossly unfair, demotivating and possibly unsafe to accommodate biological males within their races, teams and sports days.”

I want everyone asked, clearly, "Yes, it may be emotionally very desirable for this male person to have the experience of participating in a women's event as if they were seen as a woman. What does it say about society (and you personally) when women's resources and categories are seen as something appropriate to commandeer, for the reason of providing desired emotional experiences for men? Are women and their resources just a theme park for men to use?"

Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, said.... she was working with governing bodies to find a “compassionate” approach which maintained the “integrity of competition”.

When anyone says 'compassion' they are exclusively talking about men and how very important men's feelings are in order to justify daring to think a little about the equality of women. It's the stroking and patting and soothing before the 'but women do have to have some rights too, sorry sorry sorry' bit.

Fgs can we just admit to the male supremacy underpinning all this? That the worst issue is that men may be sad (and everyone look bad for upsetting them) if women's equality isn't undermined for them on demand and their self expression indulged without boundaries? That men's emotional experiences are the seen most primary concern for 'nice' and 'fair' people?

I want women like Lucy and every single male athlete playing this game to look little girls in the eye and justify why they have a birthright of being less than human compared to children born boys. Born to dick pander.

The Telegraph also gives the Policy Exchange report a high profile.

I like the suggestion that there should be no government funding for sports that are handing over women's sports to me. That would resolve so much of this in an instant.

And the comments yet again show that people completely understand the issues - it's the Stonewall captured governing bodies & politicians who are out of touch:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/29/trans-ideology-is-now-a-growing-threat-to-female-grassroots/?li_source=LI&li_medium=for_you

Policy Exchange author thread:

x.com/specalot/status/1740637363255030202?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

This will have gone out via embargoed copy to MSM and presumably trade outlets too. If the Graun isn't covering it then there is the possibility they've chosen to actively ignore it.

I've looked all through the Guardian website and can't see any mention of this, which is strange given how they sometimes struggle to fill their pages during the lull between public holidays. But I did find an article about whether it's better to cook with olive oil or butter so there's that. Thank you for the links.

Interesting that the report mentions Park Run, who clarified that they are not a sport and they will continue to prioritise inclusion over fairness. Apparently you compete for fun or against yourself so the (women's) records taken by men don't really matter. Perhaps we need a campaign to show Park Run what we think of their priorities.

SerotinaPickeler · Today 10:55

Interesting that the report mentions Park Run, who clarified that they are not a sport and they will continue to prioritise inclusion over fairness.

There was another one in the Mail, with comments from a Government spokeswoman. Apparently, they need to record times and records by sex, or lose Government funding.

It seems that the top three "women's" times are held by men; depressing and rubbish, but no surprise to anybody here, of course.

@SerotinaPickeler the thing about Park Run is it’s a free community event run by volunteers. They wouldn’t have the means to police such a policy. I guess the only thing they could do is remove the gender category completely when you sign up and not publish the results, so you just find out your own time and that’s it.

I'm sure they could police it if they wanted to, if they already know that three men "top" the women's tables. Everyone will know who they are.

@Coffee473 lots of bike races and time trials are essentially community events run at very low cost and yet are still implementing BC and CTT rules. Park Run could easily fix the situation for their UK events by affiliating to UKA and stating that all entrants must comply with UKA regulations. There doesn’t need to be any ‘policing’ involved as enforcement actions (just like with doping) are always after the fact.

But what could they do? You sign up on their website, turn up and run, then scan your barcode. Noone checks that you are who you say you are. I guess they could have an ‘open’ category, as some of the sports mentioned in the article do.

Like the "Irish Dancing Moms" i think the "Soccer Moms" and the "Competitive Swimming Moms" and all the other parents who are now seeing their daughters' efforts go unrewarded and pushed down all the places, potentially missing out on college grants, are going to be in the vanguard of this.

Because us women moaning on about it won't be heard. But those groups of parents are famously sharp-elbowed and have made huge sacrifices in some cases to drive their offspring to training, competitions etc.

The guardian have covered it by burying it as the 9th story in the sports section https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/dec/29/rightwing-thinktank-female-only-categories-uk-grassroots-sport

abd prefacing the article by saying the policy exchange are “right wing”. They then allow someone called Natalie Washington from LGBTQIA+ organisation (I quote) to twat on for 3 paragraphs that it’s unscientific and unfair and people are mean not to allow men in women’s sport 🙄

So they have. Not very convincing though!

"there are sometimes not the requisite numbers of participants to run activities at all.”"

Diddums. Cope.

"Women, in particular, want to know that they can turn up and be included in sport, not have to participate in onerous and invasive sex testing to run around a park with their friends.”"

Then get out of our stuff! (Of course there wouldn't be an "invasive" test as it's done by cheek swab. Bring it on and fuck off)

Oh @Floisme we all know butter cooks meat and fish better at a higher temperature. Get thee to that gulag!

All good. But I fear not enough when half our politics and media is fully captured

I’d love a vote on all this gender stuff, get it out there and decide - for women or for men

Oh not again! I've only just got back from a mini break.

Soz, that was to MidWineCent

As they are showing what they really think of women.

And that they definitely don't believe that boys and men are girls and women. Because they don't give a fuck for anyone they think actually is a woman or girl.

Oh those sharp-elbowed women tut tut. Rumour is those nasty mums managed to rid Kent County Cricket of their MAXine Blythin "Woman Cricketer of the Year" by elbowing a few of their husbands in to insisting MB had their testosterone levels checked. And a good amount of those Dads had the ear of KCCC execs had their kids in cricket at grassroots level.

policy exchange are “right wing”

Michael Gove was the first chairman, Rishi Sunak worked there 2014/15 and it is listed as one of the most opaquely funded Conservative think tanks.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/who-funds-you/policy-exchange/

This comes down to 'but men will deceive and force their way in to destroy women's sport for their own personal jollies'.

Yes. I accept what all this means: I think we all do. That these men are boundary breakers who have no respect for women or for anything but what they want. They are likely to behave very badly when thwarted in whatever they want.

Likewise car jackers, muggers and burglars aren't particularly keen on boundaries or respecting other people.

But it's not difficult. First you make it clear that the categories are sex based, and be clear that sex means sex and not any burbly nonsense, and that another category is provided for people currently not wanting to compete as their sex. Then you make it clear that women are not subhuman and their inclusion and equality matters to any decent human being, and will be protected. Too. That's the bit massively missing from all of this, everywhere. And the subtext of that is that anyone who undermines this is a dick.

That will do 90% of this, and leave you only with the absolute dicks determined to be absolute dicks to women. Who will shout and stomp and scream that their birth certificate says the lie that they had put there and in the face of all the evidence they demand that everyone performs what they want.

And that's when eventually, in the big picture, the GRA will have to go and said lies will have to stop, because some people are twats. The evidence in all areas including this one keeps on stacking up.

You (the volunteers who run events) don’t do anything. If someone makes a complaint you refer it to the governing body (eg BC, CTT, UKA) and let them deal with it.