Trans cyclist riding cis bike
It’s not just the BBC and the Guardian doing the evasive dishonest framing of “trans athletes” and the like; the Times does it too.
Headline: Trans cyclist Emily Bridges faces Olympic winner Laura Kenny
Bridges isn’t a “trans cyclist”; Bridges is a trans woman, aka a man.
Lede:
A transgender athlete who has recently become eligible to compete in women’s events is set to compete against some of Great Britain’s leading female cyclists this week.
A trans woman athlete, i.e. a man, will be competing against women this week.
Journalism really needs to stop obscuring the realities this way.
Emily Bridges, 21, has been included on the entry list for the National Omnium Championships, to be held at the Derby Arena on Saturday, along with Dame Laura Kenny, the five-time Olympic champion.
Last month, Bridges, who began hormone therapy last year, won the men’s points race at the British Universities’ championships in Glasgow.
And he obviously should not be competing against women.
She is now able to comply with British Cycling’s requirements to have had testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per litre for a 12-month period.
British Cycling’s requirements are complete bullshit.
Bridges recently told Cycling Weekly that she had always hoped to be able to compete against women. “It was always the plan,” she said. “After starting hormone therapy, I didn’t want to race in the male category any more than I had to. It sucks, racing as a man when you’re not one. It was quickly apparent that that was the wrong category for me.”
Me. Me me me me me me me. I am all that counts. I alone matter. My feelings matter, and no one else’s do. Me me me me me.
I think I came across this article on Facebook, might have been here, but at any rate: it’s a great article about how journalism outlets are toeing the transactivist line, not out of ignorance, but out of fear.
Genspect: They Know
Ah thank you, reading it now.
Exactly.
You know, he could compete with men and frame it as “racing as a woman” if he wanted to. Plenty of (actual) women are happy to compete with men when they stand a chance, mostly but not always in sports where males don’t have inherent advantages.
Of course this isn’t about sports. It’s about “validating” trans “identity”–and forcing everybody else to play along.