So … female athletes are gonna have to pay to prove their female. Surely this is sex discrimination given males don’t have to?

[SpringCalling]

British female athletes asked to pay for own £185 sex tests

https://www.thetimes.com/article/3b2be2b9-8010-4597-8a0a-4fec54154542?shareToken=a7910740cf729d14bc67ebeef8147190

Absolutely perverse - that women now have to prove themselves yet again.

FFS

It’s the women’s classes that are being invaded by TIMs - if you want to be pissed off, be pissed off at the cheating men.

Ffs British athletics - women have to pay for something that only had to brought in because men can't be trusted to say the fuck out if women's athletics

Per the posted article all potential competitors in the female category are going to have to do a swab test to filter out biological males of any variety.

it is not about women proving they are women, it is about stopping men pretending to be women.

so i do not see the problem.

Why should women have to pay for the tests? Make the fakers pay for everyone else's.

But it's woman who have to pay extra for the privilege to take part in their sport.

Why isn't it funded by men, as they are clearly the problem.

Grr, and why do women need these tests? Because men have fucked about and cannot be trusted to respect women or the women's categories and stop fucking about.

Women: please pay for the precautions men have made necessary. Another sex based binary burden.

Well I agree that women should not pay for fakers, but of course how are we to tell the fakers? Obviously we can but i do not see how in the current environment how else to deal with this.

in any case afar as i can recall 80% of female top draw athletes want to do the test, per Sharon Davies

Shouldn’t the government pay for these tests and have UKAD conduct them?
These tests should be under the anti-doping umbrella as it’s all about maintaining the integrity of sports for athletes.

Hormones are a type of doping, so I see no reason why a test to determine sex would not fall under UKAD and also be conducted by them using funding from the government.

I completely understand why it's women who have to do it, because it's their category that's being exploited.

But of course they shouldn't have to pay for it.

I wonder if it was the male category that was needing some kind of conditional test, whether the men would have to pay for it themselves.

And yes, surely it comes under doping. It's stopping men from cheating. I can't imagine that any of them wouldn't be taking some form of female hormone.

The women should not be individually footing the bill, ffs.

@Datun No women should not be footing the bill. I had a lightbulb moment, (quite uncommon for me now) everyone should have a test duh

I agree.

And it should be rolled out for all athletes at a certain point. Almost like 'this is my sex passport' that they would just use for the rest of their lives.

And surely that would also help the athletes who truly do believe they're the opposite sex due to a DSD. Before it comes as an almighty shock when they try to enter professional women's sport.

I actually don't get why anyone really needs tests at all.

I am no athlete, but I have had quite a few cervical smears before now. A nurse has looked directly at my cervix- for free!!!

That's simplifying it maybe. But I am quite bemused at everyone saying how intrusive it is to have these checks when smears are commonplace for most women.

This is disgraceful. It's not the money (although it's a not insignificant amount), it's the principle. Tests for everyone, not just women, is so obviously the way to go.

Someone competing in the male category doesn't need a test. No one cares if a very rare woman sneaks her way into that category. So no, men shouldn't be required to take a completely unnecessary test, or to pay for one. I don't see why the government should pay either. You might argue that the sports concerned should pay, which would then mean the cost being shared with male sportspeople.

Isn’t it just a cheek swab?
No need to look at the cervix to get a DNA sample. And DNA gives a clearer picture in case of DSDs.

Test is fine but women shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Literally no one on this thread has said that it's a problem because of intrusiveness

But from your first line, I'm wondering if you know anything about this at all....

dont forget folks the likes of IW have grown a cervix so genitalia inspection would not work.

I don’t agree, women outperform men in a few sports, usually the ultra-endurance ones. Eg, the ultraruns and ultra cycling, swimming oceans, long distance sailing races, all shooting of all weapons types, equestrian events, gymnastics, free diving, rock climbing,

And those of us who have lost ours to cancer…

So what? No-one has a problem with open categories in certain sports when appropriate. That has nothing to do with the rights of women to have their own competitions.

I also care if women sneak into men’s categories where women have the advantage due to their sex. Puce green said:
Someone competing in the male category doesn't need a test. No one cares if a very rare woman sneaks her way into that category.

I care. The categories should be kept separate with no exceptions.
Every athlete should be tested.

Their logic is that TW have no advantage. Therefore by their logic, just as many women could sneak into male.sports and win.

Expensive tests for everyone!

Especially as women typically get less in sponsorship and support.

I’d gladly contribute to a fund to support the female athletes to get their test. 👍

But it's not trans activists who are demanding the tests. It's the sports organisations, who want the tests because they do think that men have an advantage over women. The idea of requiring thousands of men to take and pay for a completely unnecessary test just so that they can share women's pain is ridiculous. By all means, put pressure on the sports federations to pay for the cost of the women's tests out of the subscriptions of all their members, though.