In echoes of Posie Parker’s billboard, the telegraph’s billboard faced complaints

[EweSurname]

The telegraph have been running adverts on billboards saying “should athletes born as men be muscling in on women’s sports?”

People have complained about the language. Will be interesting to see if it’s treated any differently to Posie’s ‘adult human female’ ad

https://archive.ph/wip/qSU6v

I can just hear this in Harrop’s voice (although this is just my imagination and not attributed to him in the article at all) “The phrase ‘muscling in’ is no accident,” a spokesperson for the group continued. “It’s a dog whistle designed to paint trans women as aggressive invaders. It’s the same rhetoric that’s been used historically to justify exclusion, violence, and moral panic.”

What makes them think this has anything to do with transwomen?

Asking for a friend…

We really need clarity about DsDs in sport next.

How is one born as a man? Surely a male is born a boy and grows up to be a man. (I may have missed the point)

Haha well quite.

Born as men isn’t accurate as you say @IHeartHalloumi It’s not like any woman births a fully grown man, but I forgive the inaccuracy as a way to combat all the other obfuscation eg trans woman or male bodies etc. It’s probably the safest way to point out they are men competing with women.

Dog whistle - inconvenient truth

”The phrase ‘muscling in’ is no accident,” a spokesperson for the group continued. “It’s a dog whistle designed to paint trans women as aggressive invaders. It’s the same rhetoric that’s been used historically to justify exclusion, violence, and moral panic.”

Does anyone else want to scream and be a bit sick when they hear the term “moral panic”. It’s just a phrase to stop any debate. In fact is it the new “No Debate”?!

This could surely be easily fixed by changing the word "men" to "male".

Isn’t a woman a female human of any age under English law? And therefore a man is likewise of any age.

But they used Men because it makes their point more clearly. We’re not talking about 5 year olds playing together, we’re talking about post-puberty blokes (regardless of gender identity).

Yes. The term 'moral panic' makes me want to scream. It's just used to signal 'wrongspeak'

"Additionally, the complaint argues that the Telegraph’s slogan, “we speak your mind,” implies that the statement is “universal” and that the majority of the public is in “agreement with its stance.”

It's true they are, thanks for acknowledging it. 😁

I think the clarity is already there...
All with DsD are male or female and that is already an accepted biological / medical outcome...

How that affects their ability to take part in / compete at sports, it is no different to anyone else - born male or female, their DsD may be a hindrance in the same way that someone born with a disability / or something as simple as poor stereo vision etc. will have a challenge... on the other hand it may make no difference...

their competing class is simple - they will still be man or woman and need to take part in sport for their biological born sex.

Right, so according to Harrop, when discussing women’s sport, no one may make any reference to men’s greater muscle mass, even though it’s highly relevant to the discussion and is a key factor in male advantage. Got it.
Did he also complain about the Sun headline (‘They think it’s all ovaries. Well it is now!’) as it alluded to men’s ovarylessness? (Is there a medical term for that? Anovarian?)

It’s not Harrop saying these things in the article. Sorry, I should have been clearer!

It’s just so similar to situation where harrop complained about the adult human female billboard that I can imagine him saying it but he has nothing to do with the complaint against the telegraph.

I agree - this is poor wording!

The Telegraph have been excellent promoting women's sport and exposing the cheating men. Their chief sports writer Oliver Brown has written some barnstorming articles and has openly challenged numerous sports administrators who have been handing women's sport over to mediocre men. Like this one:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2025/04/17/supreme-court-message-sport-transgender-inclusion-lunacy/

Oliver Brown should be winning awards for his fantastic coverage of these issues. I hope the Guardian sports journalists are hanging their heads in shame.

But it's still probably a little too early to think the Guardian will realise that women deserve our own sporting categories, we've only been fighting for them for a century or so.

Also some of the Times sports reporters evidently in thrall to Stonewall. They've been producing all manner of sad "won't you women budge up and think of the sad transwomen trying to take your places in sport" for years. But the comments below are always a joy to read as readers don't buy their nonsense.

Such a contrast to the excellent reporting from other journalists at the Times.

'Muscling in' is neat but obviously goady. Unfortunately 'born as men' just makes it look stupid

Meh - I can forgive the "born as men" for the impact it's having. Never thought I'd be a Telegraph fan but it's amazing how this ideology has exposed so many once rigorous news sources as simpering fools when it comes to this ideology.

I saw this on trans Reddit, they were predictably raging about it.

@EweSurname probably my poor / rushed reading comprehension

Tough 'goady'. That's what they are doing. And their larger, faster muscles are highly significant in sport. Muscling in is accurate.

The phrase 'dog whistle' is now a cliche worthy of nothing more than a hard eyeroll from me.

Even more problematic is the term 'violence'. Who are these people inciting violence? Displaying placards advocating the hanging of those who oppose their views? Pictured screaming in the faces of women in very visible states of sexual arousal? Assaulting women? Shouting about 'punching TERFs in the fucking face?' Lobbing cans of tomato soup over women's rights activists demanding nothing more than the right to speak? Congregating in vocal, intimidatory gangs outside women's meetings and the FILIA conference?

Is it women doing all this to trans activists? Like hell, is it.

The facts fly in the face of practically all such assertions. It's like an organized form of gaslighting amounting to 'if we repeat a thing often enough, it magically becomes true'. I'm continually surprised that anyone in possession of a sentient mind can possibly be taken in by this shit, as you can only do so if you're wilfully closing your eyes to facts you find unpalatable. Hence: 'so what did J K Rowling actually say?'

This loathesome, mendacious movement doesn't even pretend to maintain even the most tenuous grip on reality, and has DARVO down to a practised art.

Raging about it because they know they are MEN . And they know they are CHEATS.

I'm not sure the wording is wrong.
I do remember the sc clarification stating something akin to "a woman is a female of any age".

I think the telegraph terminology is along those legal lines. It's just socially difficult to accept.

Might be part of why they chose it...