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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Sharron Davies: I’ll sue sports that let trans athletes take on women

31 replies

fromorbit · 18/09/2025 09:27

Women and girls are getting their sports back. All of them. Not just elite athletes - the lot.

Sharron Davies: I’ll sue sports that let trans athletes take on women
https://archive.is/5gcGR#

The Olympic medallist argues that sporting bodies have thrown amateurs ‘under the bus’ by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s events
new
Sharron Davies intends to take on “absolute direct sex discrimination” in women’s sport
The former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies is set to launch a women’s sports union next month that will sue governing bodies that discriminate against female athletes.
She said she was willing to be litigious with sports organisations that failed to protect female recreational sports by allowing trans women to compete.

OP posts:
TheProfoundlyPeculiarPointOfPete · 18/09/2025 09:29

As usual, it's not "trans athletes" as they've printed but "male athletes".

jettisoned · 18/09/2025 09:29

I hope she takes on the PDC. Even the amateur darts - WDF don't let males play in the women's events.

deadpan · 18/09/2025 09:32

When it was specified it would be elite sports it did make me wonder why it wasn't just all sport. Arguably if a female was badly injured, or lost out to a male in pleb sport it would prevent her from progressing or continuing in something she enjoyed. Just because she isn't being paid for it why does that make it less of an impact.

LizzieSiddal · 18/09/2025 09:33

That’s great of her.

The maddening thing is she shouldn’t have to be putting her time and energy into this, hopefully one case against one governing body should lit an end to this nonsense.

Helleofabore · 18/09/2025 10:06

Bloody brilliant!

AnSolas · 18/09/2025 10:07

deadpan · 18/09/2025 09:32

When it was specified it would be elite sports it did make me wonder why it wasn't just all sport. Arguably if a female was badly injured, or lost out to a male in pleb sport it would prevent her from progressing or continuing in something she enjoyed. Just because she isn't being paid for it why does that make it less of an impact.

Its saying at grass roots that girls must be rank lower than boys who dont want to be fair.

That boys can cheat in girls sports when cheating would not be allowed in the same events for boys

aold · 18/09/2025 10:12

this should be totally unnecessary.
It should be enshrined in law without any ambiguity whatsoever.

TheSlantedOwl · 18/09/2025 10:13

Thank you Sharron 💪🏼

AnSolas · 18/09/2025 10:23

aold · 18/09/2025 10:12

this should be totally unnecessary.
It should be enshrined in law without any ambiguity whatsoever.

It is any sporting body which allows some but not all males in are engaged in unlawful discriminating.

The question is are the sporting bodies willing to screw over half the population and remove womens sports as a class or will they go with a Women plus Open model.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 18/09/2025 10:25

Well done Sharron. And yes - this should not be necessary. All the powerful men running sport who remain woefully ignorant of where elite sportswomen come from: It's amateur sport.

Girls and women are all entitled to women only sport - no matter how much creepy men protest and whine.

StayJammy · 18/09/2025 10:28

It's possible I've misread or misunderstood but I can work out if the RFU allows mento play in women's teams at grassroots level .

This has baffled me if that is the case!

gilletwoes · 18/09/2025 10:32

I’m sure I’ve read in the past that in the mixed fours in rowing it had to be biological sex (2 male, 2 female) but in the female category it was ok if one or all are trans (ie men). The rules in all sports just need to stick to biological sex - at all levels.

Glamourreader · 18/09/2025 10:33

Yes Sharon! Love her for fighting so hard for all women and girls.

It breaks my heart that they're expected to take second place to cheating males

MagpiePi · 18/09/2025 10:36

gilletwoes · 18/09/2025 10:32

I’m sure I’ve read in the past that in the mixed fours in rowing it had to be biological sex (2 male, 2 female) but in the female category it was ok if one or all are trans (ie men). The rules in all sports just need to stick to biological sex - at all levels.

I think that was in the US and applied to all mixed crews, not just 4s/quads. Up to a maximum of half the crew could be male.

VexedofVirginiaWater · 18/09/2025 10:43

MagpiePi · 18/09/2025 10:36

I think that was in the US and applied to all mixed crews, not just 4s/quads. Up to a maximum of half the crew could be male.

Yes I found this from 2023, but I don't know if it's been amended since then, I have been searching but can only find age, weight and skill categories. (Image will be under review of course.)

Sharron Davies: I’ll sue sports that let trans athletes take on women
AnSolas · 18/09/2025 10:45

MrsOvertonsWindow · 18/09/2025 10:25

Well done Sharron. And yes - this should not be necessary. All the powerful men running sport who remain woefully ignorant of where elite sportswomen come from: It's amateur sport.

Girls and women are all entitled to women only sport - no matter how much creepy men protest and whine.

They know they dgaf.

Its cheating at a each level.

Nobody in any sport is unaware of the physical differences and the advantages of male biology.

Signalbox · 18/09/2025 10:45

This needs to happen. Sharon Davies is a hero of epic proportions.

Helleofabore · 18/09/2025 11:10

It is past time that sporting organisations took responsibility here. Those that did not protect all levels of sports tried to sit on the fence and to appeal to those people who categorise themselves as ‘moderates’.

The organisations did this because they prioritised the argument that everyone should be participating in sport and at amateur level ‘it is just a bit of fun, eh?’. They fully accepted that sport should be about allowing people to be included because after all, isn’t sport about allowing all skill levels to participate, and supposed to be a leveller across socio-economic demographics. Plus there is the wonderful side of improving mental health which, of course, those poor male people will suffer greatly because they cannot be treated as female but the female people in the sport have to just deal with any mental health issues arising from
those male people being included.

This lack of symmetry when considering the needs of female athletes at any level needs to stop. If the male / open category is not welcoming male athletes in all their diversity, it was never the female athletes responsibility to make room.

And still we see mothers telling their girls ‘why are you so upset, it is just a bit of fun!’ and ‘at this age, there is a girl or two winning so obviously there is no difference at this age’. We see it all the time on the threads discussing children’s sports when the school allows a boy to compete with the girls. Or a school which gets rid of single sex sports altogether.

A shame that legal cases may end up being the impetus though, it would have been better for these organisations to have done their research thoroughly.

Helleofabore · 18/09/2025 11:10

This legacy stemmed from the campaign group of academics who convinced the IOC that it violated the dignity of those male athletes with DSDs to have to go through the sex testing that all female Olympic athletes went through. Some of those went on to convince the IOC to then allow males with transgender identities to compete as female as well.

That group convinced sports management teams that sport should be open to all who felt they belonged in the female category. It has taken over 25 years to get the momentum to change their harmful successes.

deadpan · 18/09/2025 11:47

One thing I do wish though is that she didn't use emotive language like "20 year olds with purple hair".
It makes he points sound trivial and they aren't.

Gotback · 18/09/2025 11:55

Thank god for Sharron Davies.

logiccalls · 18/09/2025 12:08

LizzieSiddal · 18/09/2025 09:33

That’s great of her.

The maddening thing is she shouldn’t have to be putting her time and energy into this, hopefully one case against one governing body should lit an end to this nonsense.

True, but a Supreme Court decision seems to have entirely bypassed officials in government and in most other areas of decision making.

Enforcement of Equality Law might be thought to be the prime task of a quango called EHRC, but they are perhaps all too busy? They can't bring themselves to mention the protected characteristic of Ageism. And Disability rarely gets their attention, let alone rouses their legal enforcement team.

Once, their spokesperson explained, to a disability campaigning organisation, that the reason they would never interfere in institutionalised Equality offences, (not even to the extent of quietly pointing out to Government Departments that they are in the wrong,) is because "you don't snitch on colleagues".

The pro-bono lawyer representing that campaigning organisation was astonished, because in her country, there are equality lawyers embedded in all central and local government decision-making bodies. That way, indirect sexism or disablism or ageism etc. would be picked up, and averted, in early stages: The side effect of knowing this, was that plans or proposals would normally not even get beyond the back-of-an-envelope first stage, because one of the proposers of the idea would point out the flaw and re-design or drop it.

Apparently, the U.K. equivalent in central and local government is embedded terror of only two things: Unions, and the word 'Racism' (exclusively interpreted as being something only a white skinned person can be guilty of, and only a dark skinned person can be a victim of)

The word 'Racist', with or without the added word 'bigot' is also interpreted as being something of which to be accused is to be guilty. Like the olden days of McCarthyism in USA, with the word 'communist'. Like all times, all over the world, with the word 'witch'. And, like the recent days, all over the 'developed' world, the idea that to be called 'transphobic' is to be guilty and deserving a death penalty, to be carried out, just as 'honour killings' and Fatwas are, by any citizen.

'The Blob' in U.K. is a group- belief, thought-deleted, cause-and -effect- denying, fact- free- decision making, uni-creature, therefore one perfectly designed to be entirely Stonewall-captive.

StellaAndCrow · 18/09/2025 12:24

VexedofVirginiaWater · 18/09/2025 10:43

Yes I found this from 2023, but I don't know if it's been amended since then, I have been searching but can only find age, weight and skill categories. (Image will be under review of course.)

Edited

This is still astonishing to me in how blatant it is - they really do only care when men are affected.

Sharron Davies: I’ll sue sports that let trans athletes take on women
Tam285 · 18/09/2025 13:18

Love Sharron Davies! I had the same swimming coach as her when I was a teen (sadly wasn't nearly as good as her).

AnSolas · 18/09/2025 13:21

deadpan · 18/09/2025 11:47

One thing I do wish though is that she didn't use emotive language like "20 year olds with purple hair".
It makes he points sound trivial and they aren't.

Its much easier for orgs to blame the non-existant 20 year old than admit they were active parties in the choice.

Then the men and women involved can pretend that they never realllllly supported males in womens sports and roll out the some other dude did it reason for their change of mind.