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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Deta Hedman forfeits darts Open in protest at competing against trans-identifying male

51 replies

ArabellaScott · 06/05/2024 09:39

https://reduxx.info/breaking-female-darts-star-forfeits-denmark-open-match-against-trans-identified-male-in-protest-of-his-inclusion-in-the-womens-category/

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/othersport/1895714/darts-deta-hedman-noa-lynn-van-leuven

Applause for Deta's bravery and honesty.

'Darts player Deta Hedman has pulled out of her Denmark Open quarter-final against transgender competitor Noa-Lynn van Leuven. Hedman has been a vocal critic of rules allowing transgender women to compete in women's tournaments and chose to forfeit Saturday's match.'

Deta is the third woman to drop out of playing van Leuven in protest.

BREAKING: Female Darts Star Forfeits Denmark Open Match Against Trans-Identified Male In Protest Of His Inclusion In The Women's Category - Reduxx

A female darts player has forfeited her match against a trans-identified male in a protest of his participation in the women’s category. Deta Hedman refused to play against Noa-Lynn Van Leuven during the Denmark Open quarter-final yesterday. Hedman, of...

https://reduxx.info/breaking-female-darts-star-forfeits-denmark-open-match-against-trans-identified-male-in-protest-of-his-inclusion-in-the-womens-category

OP posts:
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murasaki · 07/05/2024 15:56

Yes, that's the one.

murasaki · 07/05/2024 16:32

As I recall it was on in a session break during the male darts we were watching, so hopefully it got a reasonable audience at the time. Might have been the world championships, I forget.

murasaki · 08/05/2024 12:07

To be fair to the tournament, they already paid her. But Riley often does this, she's always supportive in these situations.

SinnerBoy · 12/05/2024 12:46

There's a very interesting article in the Mail, by Linda Duffy, a sports psychologist. She sets out exactly how males - including TW - out-perform women in darts and why they shouldn't be competing against women:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/darts/article-13400039/Former-world-No-1-sports-psychology-expert-reveals-scientifically-UNFAIR-transgender-darts-players-compete-female-events-Deta-Hedman-Denmark-Open-withdrawal.html

^She added: 'When you start to talk about these very contentious issues, the first thing people will say is: "You're you're bigot. You don't like transgender people." It's not. We have to look aside from that. It's not about being transgender. It's not about that at all. It's about the fairness of the category.'

Duffy drew on her experience from playing the sport in her study and concluded that there are significant physical and psychological disparities between male and female athletes that place the latter at a disadvantage when it comes to competition.

'There are massive differences between males and females on cognitive abilities and visual-spatial ability,' she said. 'You know lots of different ways that we do things. A lot of those are underpinned by testosterone levels. Some are not.'
Her analysis spanned across different studies, with one relating to controlling variables such as height, arm length and experience. Another related to differences between male and female darts players across varying levels of skill. A different study analysed whether practice can affect the advantage one sex could have over the other using a single dart average as a measure.^

^Each of her studies revealed discrepancies between the two genders, with male darts players being superior to female players included in the examination.
'First of all you have to say. Do you think that a transgender person is a biological man or biologically female? That's the starting point for any of this and I can't really speak on individual cases, because I don't know their status. ^

'But if you accept that a transgender participant is a biological man - even though they identify as a woman - they have an advantage, an unfair advantage against females, therefore, shouldn't be playing in the female category. So you're looking at either inclusion or fairness. You can't have both.

Psychology expert says trans darts athletes playing vs women is unfair

The former darts world No 1 (left and right) has stated why it may be scientifially unfair for transgender athletes to compete in female-only sports. And claims the issue lies with the governing bodies.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/darts/article-13400039/Former-world-No-1-sports-psychology-expert-reveals-scientifically-UNFAIR-transgender-darts-players-compete-female-events-Deta-Hedman-Denmark-Open-withdrawal.html

SinnerBoy · 12/05/2024 12:47

'I mean the women players I played with at the time, we all practiced hard. We all took it very very seriously. We did everything the men the men did. But the men were just better. It was something that always sort of fascinated me. So I looked at it when I did my doctoral research.

She continued: 'I controlled variables including height, arm length, years of experience, the number of people that were playing worldwide and in the UK. And I looked all those variables and the only one that came out as the biggest predictor of darts performance was gender. Or it was sex actually because they were categorized as male and female players.

'That was the biggest predictor. Even when all those other factors have been controlled for. In another part of my PhD I looked at how males and females practiced and I looked at county players, international players, professional players and club-level players.

'I looked at lots of different levels of skill. I looked at retrospective accounts of how many hours they practiced, how many leagues they played in. The type of practice they did.

'The male players outperformed females again, even though females did the same things in practice and took practice as seriously, [trained] the same amount of hours. And again, males outperform females by looking at the single dart average as a dependent measure. It's there for everyone to see. Males outperform females.'

SinnerBoy · 12/05/2024 12:51

I've posted the article to Deta's Twitter feed.

checkedshirts · 12/05/2024 13:12

There's a women's week coming up in the Modus darts - a weekly event for anyone without a pdc tour card and pleased to see Deta playing and not the person Deta refused to play against.

Considering the afore mentioned person is currently no.4 in the PDC women's series it's quite a glaring omission.

3beesinmybonnet · 13/12/2025 21:27

Congratulations to Deta Hedman on winning the 2025 WDF Women's World Championship, and also for her OBE for services to darts and charity. She refused to play against men in the women's game - thank you Deta for bravely standing up for women's rights. (The BBC don't mention this, despite their previous desperation to shoehorn anything trans or drag related into their news articles. )

Deta Hedman is wearing a green shirt and smiling in front of a darts board.

Darts champion Deta Hedman 'blubbered like a child' after win

Deta Hedman is crowned world champion for the first time in a career spanning five decades.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzx9l3k2jo

3beesinmybonnet · 13/12/2025 21:28

Grrr don't know what's happened to my link

3beesinmybonnet · 13/12/2025 21:29

Oh there it is😀

Boiledbeetle · 13/12/2025 21:35

🎯 🏆

Congratulations Deta!

🍾

ArabellaScott · 13/12/2025 21:45

Yay Deta!

OP posts:
wantmorenow · 13/12/2025 21:51

Congratulations 🎉 🎉 🎉

KilkennyCats · 13/12/2025 21:52

Go, Deta! You’re some woman for one woman.

lcakethereforeIam · 13/12/2025 22:10

Brilliant. So pleased for her.

murasaki · 13/12/2025 22:11

Love Deta. There was a great doc on her on Sky a couple of years ago. She's a role model for triumphing over bigots of every stripe.

GallantKumquat · 14/12/2025 08:30

🥂

MarieDeGournay · 14/12/2025 11:15

Word Champion - well done Deta!!!💐
And OBE as well - giving an OBE to a woman who forfeited a title as a protest against a trans-IDing man in her sport is quite a statement, isn't it?

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/12/2025 11:52

3beesinmybonnet · 13/12/2025 21:27

Congratulations to Deta Hedman on winning the 2025 WDF Women's World Championship, and also for her OBE for services to darts and charity. She refused to play against men in the women's game - thank you Deta for bravely standing up for women's rights. (The BBC don't mention this, despite their previous desperation to shoehorn anything trans or drag related into their news articles. )

Fantastic! Well done Deta 👏

thirdfiddle · 14/12/2025 12:22

Congratulations to Deta. World champion for the first time at 66, what an amazing story.

May2024 · 14/12/2025 14:18

Wooo hooo congratulations Deta!

May2024 · 14/12/2025 14:19

MarieDeGournay · 14/12/2025 11:15

Word Champion - well done Deta!!!💐
And OBE as well - giving an OBE to a woman who forfeited a title as a protest against a trans-IDing man in her sport is quite a statement, isn't it?

Yeah things are changing what with Deta and Sharon! Long may in continue!

soupycustard · 14/12/2025 14:29

So happy for her. She sounds like an absolute star.

mama149 · 14/12/2025 15:23

What an all round star! Well done Deta!