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.”

I'm sure the choice of wording was very carefully considered. I like that the poster describes the situation as "men muscling in" - which is what it has always been, even if some women have been all too eager to facilitate the process for them - rather than warm fluffy nonsense about "inclusion", or suggesting that a poor downtrodden subgroup of vulnerable women are being forced out of sport.

"Moral panic" is a classic dog whistle.

It’s great, because the more it’s criticised by the permanently offended, the more exposure it gets, and we know that on the whole people agree with it. “Muscling in” is a totally appropriate phrase in a situation where the greater muscle power of men is a key element of the problem.

There would be just as much complaining if it said “compete in women’s sports” rather than “muscling in” - it’s not the wording it’s the acknowledgment that male born athletes have no right to be in women’s sport at all.

I would imagine this will continue to show the general public do not agree with males in women’s sports, but we will still get posters telling us “minority view” “no evidence” etc.

Muscling in is a perfect term for this. The increased muscle strength men have over women is the primary reason sports are not mixed sex in the first place.

And the suggestion that it’s false to imply they are aggressive makes me roll my eyes. Men invading women’s sports are indeed aggressive. It may not be obvious if you never challenge them, but I think it’s fair to say that as soon as they stop getting their way, the aggressive male will surface.

TRA arguments are tedious.

This illogical comment on PinkNews!

🤣

@Bluebootsgreenboots
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?)

Possibly :) 1714-1901, although the fact that it includes Queen Victoria may complicate things.

Yes, the definition of “man” in the EA was already “a male of any age” (likewise for “woman”) before the SC ruling, so the judgment just tracked that through.

I think they chose ‘man’ over ‘male’ to create a clear image of an actual man in people’s heads as opposed to the concept of being male, which is often used in trans contexts such as “assigned male at birth” and has been made (by the spread of gender identity ideology) to feel like a mere administrative category as opposed to something that depicts biological reality.

I also think using ‘man’ rather than ‘male’ distances this question from the trans movement (which tends to prefer the euphemistic ‘male’) to give plausible deniability as to whether they only had trans people in mind - which is absolutely a fair point after the SC ruling, since the SC pointed out that if transwomen are allowed to be classed as women, then any man has the right to be classed as a woman. Given the SC ruling and the fact TRAs want all women’s sports to be mixed-sex, it’s a perfectly valid question without even considering whether the ‘man’ in question is a transwoman or just any random man.

And obviously, they wouldn’t use “boy” as it sounds like they’re picking on vulnerable kids, and it’s not the young boys who are thrashing adult women in sport.

I think ‘man’ was definitely the right choice, but it does sound funny/painful when you think about the birth.

I'm updating this thread with the news that the ASA has found the Telegraph's billboard does not break the ASA's code and there will be no further investigation

Good. In fact, excellent.