The Last Leg’s take on Valentina Petrillo

[MagpiePi]

What a surprise! …not,
And this is despite so many people were asking #IsItOk for a 51 year old man to be competing in a women’s race?

The last leg

@rollypanda

I snagged it from the Twitter thread on the OP.

Here’s another equally illustrative one that my DH sent me - from the Telegraph online I think.

I'd have worn baggier shorts, personally.

But then I guess that's not the point 😕

Are there any transmen competing in male sports?

Not at a high level, I don't think, for obvious reasons. Certain sports which are more skill based and less based on physical strength, speed etc, and are non-contact, would lend themselves more to biological women's participation.

It's a terrible show anyway, smug and patronising. It's the willful blindness that tweaks my tits. 2 of the presenters are physically disabled and actually u derstand some of the challenges faced by all these athletes, yet they're prepared to not see the cuckoo in the nest that takes a giant dump on the other competitors. Actually, they applaud the cuckoo. Its the most wondrous cuckoo in the world.

It's so cowardly. This whole shebang has revealed so much more about people's morals and inner courage than they realise.

Thanks for the photo. I have posted it on my fb. So many people I know are largely oblivious of what is happening.

Oliver Brown, Telegraph chief sports writer, gets it. He’s quite vocal on Twitter.

I think this image from the Telegraph is also quite instructive as it includes the male guides, so a bit of comparison is possible.
Edit - if it had actually posted it would have been instructive. I'll try again.

trying link instead
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/paralympic-sport/2024/09/02/valentina-petrillo-defiant-paralympics-scandal-paris-2024/#:~:text=Valentina%20Petrillo%20dissolved%20in%20tears,male%20to%20race%20against%20women.

Oliver Brown is great.

My god that photo @Plasmodesmata

It beggars belief that anyone could look at it and not immediately see the unfairness to those female athletes.

I think everyone sees it,but some put their hands over their eyes and pretend they don't.

I mean - if the Last Leg had the courage of their convictions when praising the inclusivity of this event - why no photo? Why no clip of the race?
I think I can guess.

It's so easy and sounds so nice to praise inclusivity and breaking barriers, until you think about what that means in practice. Sometimes, barriers are (or at least should be) there for a reason. As someone said, they have prioritised inclusivity over fairness.

Fellow competitor Oksana Boturchuk said: “I find this not fair. I am not against transgenders in general but in this situation, I do not understand and don’t support it.”

A picture paints a thousand words.

Oh the irony... 'we just want a level playing field'

x.com/bbcr4today/status/1825460004331172180?s=46&t=IZ8vQZeKyx4LPbr4nXuPkA

How would Adam feel if Sir Andy Murray decided to identify as disabled and demanded to be allowed to play? Andy could probably put together a strong claim, because it is possible to 'transition' from abled bodied to disabled.

The amount of pushback on X is heartening - the Last Leg crew will be in no doubt as to how people feel about their unforgivable smugathon.

But that wouldn't be fairrrrrrrrrrrrr because Adam is a man and as we all know, it's only fair when it's a woman on the receiving end of male entitlement.

What they really need is an actual real woman and athlete to come on and talk about it. They do want to learn and be informed right? Or would they rather just score their virtue points,?

Although these virtue points are looking increasingly cringey.

Loving the people pushing back about this on X and hoping he reads it.

My husband and I used to love TLL but the amount of cringe shit in it really is out of control. And this just takes the biscuit.

Unsurprised. I suddenly go and have an urgent bath every time The Last Leg comes on. My husband loves it. I know I can't comment on anything as my husband will just shout at me again for making an annoying fuss over nothing. I thought I married one of the good ones .....

He's shouting at you because he doesn't want his cognitive dissonance pierced.

The cognitive dissonance of some men regarding this obvious unfairness is absolutely mind blowing.

My DH is finally properly angry after this and the Olympic boxing debacle. He's agreed intellectually with my rants for a long time but in typical man fashion thought it was a storm in a tea cup that wasn't ever really going to affect sport in a meaningful way.

I'd like to say I'm smug about being right but there's no victory to be found in this hideous mess.