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GC Social MediaSeveral great threads about the silencing of women's voices in the female sports debate.
When female athletes, in fact when all members of sports governing bodies, clubs & teams are asked they overwhelmingly advocate for fair sport. People who understand sport want fair sport as the minimum required. Rowing polled over 80% for protecting the female category. The vast majority of the general public want equal opportunities of success for both sexes.
Oh yeah, ever survey that has been done in sport shows about 80% of women oppose TW in women's sport, and support closed women's sport for females only. It's overwhelming. People who say women support it are literally lying.
World Aquatics published its survey - 80 - 85% for a range of questions. T&F found over 80% against. UK triathlon & rowing similar. @cathydevine has surveyed elite women and found the same in her studies. If it were up to women, there'd be no conversation - female only category
And this is why you saw for instance in Canada, the attempt to shut down a survey of women on this issue, and why in US Cycling, they also protested the open consultation - any time you actually ask women, and make it safe for them to speak, you will discover that women want
...fairness and safety in sport, and they insist on a female only space, because they know that sex matters in this domain. The same is true of public surveys, incidentally. So those who are arguing for males to be included in women's sport have to make sure those views are never
...heard. They bully and intimidate, and shut down any chance for women to have a voice, because that allows them to pretend that this isn't a big deal to women, and to lie that women are OK with it. The UK Sport consultation revealed how that process develops, with the threats
...and intimidation and warnings not to speak. Also see how the Ivy League universities instructed the girls not to speak or they'd lose prestigious places and job opportunities etc. It's all part of the attack on women's rights.
At the moment, the high voting rates for protecting sex categories in sport is causing TRAs issues.
Anonymised polls aren't going the way they want and they can't use their favourite tactics (shame and fear) to manipulate women into pretending they're fine with biological male trans athletes in women's sport categories if they can remain anonymous.
In public though, there are few current athletes who are happy to say that they think biologically male athletes should not be included in the women's category of their sport and others. I can only think of five off the top of my head.
It has become quite clear that they are not going to win this debate. They tend to shy away from it and when they don't, they fuck it up spectacularly as Stonewall's Iain Anderson did on the Beth Rigby show.
But TRAs cannot lose, or at least they cannot accept defeat, so they will need to change tactics. They embody the "all or nothing" "with us or against us" mentality.
And so the change in tactics will be to go after secret ballots. Secret ballots are not the traditional voting method but they have become the norm since the 1850s.
They give the voter privacy and the right to vote according to their true beliefs and values rather than what other more powerful people would want/expect/demand from them. They protect voters from being intimidated, harassed, shames and blackmailed.
And that's why TRAs will go after secret ballots in sport. I am almost certain of it.