A professor of sport science talks about fear in academia, and that he, like nearly everyone else, thought at first that he must be missing something about ideological claims
Sarah, thank you for highlighting Dr. Greg Brown. I have been honored to co-author commentaries with him. He is simply amazing, smart, courageous, and just a really nice guy. #GregBrownFan
He articulates well what you and many others in academia and science have experienced. I know from a journalism perspective the enormous role fear has played in allowing this ideology to take over and corrupt nearly every facet of our society. People are scared shitless of the trans lobby, of being sued, of losing their jobs, of being socially punished, even of being called a hateful bigot or a transphobe. The use of fear, that I saw firsthand in journalism,and people like Greg have illustrated in science/academia, as much as the harm it causes, is telling. If it was simply the right thing to do to accept belief as fact, decades later, this idea would not need to be imposed by fear, threats, coercion, and censorship. But that's been trans activists' only tactic from the beginning.
As someone with 40+ years of coaching women and organizing women only races I think even doing studies to decide if males on drugs or having had surgery could be allowed to compete as females is beyond me. Going down this road was a waste of time.
I tend to agree. Just the fact that humans don't change sex, being male makes one ineligible for the female category. There are those who argue that there is no reason for male and female categories (and the reason is inherent physiological differences that give males advantage) but most trans advocates, BPJ's team among them, very much want a female category if only for the affirmation of their chosen identity
The determination of trans activists to enforce ideological claim that TWAW makes it necessary to debunk. Reams of junk science have been produced (and are still being churned out) to justify inclusion of trans identified males in female category: this is the raison d'être for Joanna Harper and his ilk, the hill he's ready to die on. Policies are still in effect that allow gender self-identification to take priority over sex: the desires of male athletes who claim trans identities is prioritised over fairness, safety & opportunity for girls and women.
Yes, that's Ross Tucker's view. Though it feels like a waste of time, and using actual science to debunk the junk science that's being churned out takes orders of magnitude more time and effort, but it must be done to clear the record
Demonstration of Brandolini's Law, unfortunately. Honour all the scientists who are truthful investigators.
New stratagems still being pursued to continue allowing trans identified males carte blanche:
"A new tack: Two leading advocates of males in female sports have got a new line: broadly that separate sports for women are not fully justified and that we need a massive research programme to establish if they are necessary."
For an organization like New York Road Runners, it's very hard to walk back a policy of accepting people by gender identity. Because they're virtue signaling, so what is it when you go back on that--evil signaling? They never believed that men are women, they were trying to be progressive and kind, and now that they realize they just screwed women over for 15 years, they don't know how to get out of it
Oh, yeah, on a grassroots level I get it. But the sheer breadth, depth, and relative recency of this adamant insistence that there can be no women's only sports the "why" still gets me.
Just as misleading as the 'ban on trans athletes' headlines is the rhetoric about the decision being a loss for trans rights. The Supreme Court gets to say what rights people have, and here they have said a certain right never existed. So there was nothing to 'lose', except a hope (some might say a fantasy)
I don't think it matters if there are 2 or 2 million: if a single girl or woman loses out on a prize or a medal or a podium place, that is unfair and needs to be addressed
The "there are so few" argument is remarkably stupid on every level. By absurdly minimizing the number they admit that it's wrong. That it's harmful to girls. Otherwise lots of boys in girls' sports would be a good thing. Second, if small numbers are what make it ok, at what point is it not ok? Ten? 100? 10,000? And third, for "privacy" schools donot keep track of the number of their student-athletes who identify as the opposite sex, and even if they do know of a boy on a girls' team, they will not admit this publicly as it would "out" the student. Schools, including NCAA president Charlie Baker, do not know the number of boys in girls' sports
Sarah - I am constantly being told that Trans Athletes make up an infinitesimally small number and that other issues should prioritize. The figure given was .0001 percent of Athletes are trans.
I likened that to .0001 percent of cyanide in a glass of water.
There’s also a reluctance to accept any kind of statistical proof.
It depends on whether you're interested in how many male athletes are actually participating in women's sports (infintessimally small) or the number of trans athletes affected by the "anti-trans" sports bans (huge). I wrote an article about it, interviewing people from the Williams Institute, The Trevor Project and GLAAD. Please read it. https://www.thefemalecategory.com/p/are-trans-identified-teens-living. You have to see Williams Institute's chart but here is the paragraph based on that graph:
This shows the number of trans-identified kids ages 13-17 in each of the 29 states that mandate sex-based sports participation. It’s a lot. This is when the Williams Institute finds it useful not to know the rate at which trans-identified teens participate in sports. “It could be 20% or 1% or .001%,” Redfield said. Nonetheless, these numbers seem pretty high—71,200 trans-identified teens in Texas, a state that has never been a bastion of liberalism? Even if only 1% participate in sports, that’s 712 trans athletes who, if they’re following Texas law, are participating in their sex category. And not a single story in the news of dire harms from participating in one’s sex category.
Recall when the ACLU claimed in front of the Supreme Court that West Virginia’s law upholding sex-based sports affected only one person—their client, Becky Pepper-Jackson? Well huh. The Williams Institute found that that law affects 3,800 trans-identified kids in West Virginia. Even if only 1% of those kids played sports, that’s still 38 kids. Not just one. Remember Charlie Baker testifying before Congress that there were “less than ten” trans athletes in the NCAA? The Williams Institute stated that it’s “unlikely that transgender athletes make up more than 1.3% of the overall college athlete population.” Using that 1.3% of the NCAA’s total athlete population of 554,000 results in 7,202 trans-identified athletes. Not less than ten.
From my own personal experience as a coach at a small private Minnesota high school, there were more than 10 trans-identified students on opposite sex teams just on the small track and field and cross country teams, to say nothing of the rest of the school. In MN, where students can participate in sports according to their gender identity, EVERY high school has more than ten boys in girls' sports at any one time. They would sooner eat glass than report this of course. They may be shit athletes. Only the decent ones get noticed
Thanks Sarah. I’m never sure of the numbers. But of course 1 trans identified athlete can make for a very uncomfortable changing room and lost places on teams etc etc. Plus the the physical danger to a whole team in contact sports.
Even if they're mediocre athletes, trans identified males still have male advantage in strength, aggression and speed. It's a hostile and humiliating environment for girls and women in sport, when they're obliged to share changing rooms with these interlopers. Girls drop out of sport at high rates during puberty: single sex sport is really important to keep them active and engaged.
Sarah, thank you for highlighting Dr. Greg Brown. I have been honored to co-author commentaries with him. He is simply amazing, smart, courageous, and just a really nice guy. #GregBrownFan
He articulates well what you and many others in academia and science have experienced. I know from a journalism perspective the enormous role fear has played in allowing this ideology to take over and corrupt nearly every facet of our society. People are scared shitless of the trans lobby, of being sued, of losing their jobs, of being socially punished, even of being called a hateful bigot or a transphobe. The use of fear, that I saw firsthand in journalism,and people like Greg have illustrated in science/academia, as much as the harm it causes, is telling. If it was simply the right thing to do to accept belief as fact, decades later, this idea would not need to be imposed by fear, threats, coercion, and censorship. But that's been trans activists' only tactic from the beginning.
Thank you, Sarah. Yes, the threats have been, and are, real.
As someone with 40+ years of coaching women and organizing women only races I think even doing studies to decide if males on drugs or having had surgery could be allowed to compete as females is beyond me. Going down this road was a waste of time.
I tend to agree. Just the fact that humans don't change sex, being male makes one ineligible for the female category. There are those who argue that there is no reason for male and female categories (and the reason is inherent physiological differences that give males advantage) but most trans advocates, BPJ's team among them, very much want a female category if only for the affirmation of their chosen identity
The determination of trans activists to enforce ideological claim that TWAW makes it necessary to debunk. Reams of junk science have been produced (and are still being churned out) to justify inclusion of trans identified males in female category: this is the raison d'être for Joanna Harper and his ilk, the hill he's ready to die on. Policies are still in effect that allow gender self-identification to take priority over sex: the desires of male athletes who claim trans identities is prioritised over fairness, safety & opportunity for girls and women.
Yes, that's Ross Tucker's view. Though it feels like a waste of time, and using actual science to debunk the junk science that's being churned out takes orders of magnitude more time and effort, but it must be done to clear the record
Demonstration of Brandolini's Law, unfortunately. Honour all the scientists who are truthful investigators.
New stratagems still being pursued to continue allowing trans identified males carte blanche:
"A new tack: Two leading advocates of males in female sports have got a new line: broadly that separate sports for women are not fully justified and that we need a massive research programme to establish if they are necessary."
https://x.com/runthinkwrite/status/2075642324370001946
Thanks for the heads up about this new way to say that women are not fully human
Neverending story: throw all women's rights in the bin, in order to avoid telling the man in a dress NO.
It's absurd but it makes you wonder just why so many organizations are so deeply invested in it.
For an organization like New York Road Runners, it's very hard to walk back a policy of accepting people by gender identity. Because they're virtue signaling, so what is it when you go back on that--evil signaling? They never believed that men are women, they were trying to be progressive and kind, and now that they realize they just screwed women over for 15 years, they don't know how to get out of it
Oh, yeah, on a grassroots level I get it. But the sheer breadth, depth, and relative recency of this adamant insistence that there can be no women's only sports the "why" still gets me.
Oh yeah, WHY they demolished women's only sports is beyond me. It's like they all collectively lost their minds at once
Just as misleading as the 'ban on trans athletes' headlines is the rhetoric about the decision being a loss for trans rights. The Supreme Court gets to say what rights people have, and here they have said a certain right never existed. So there was nothing to 'lose', except a hope (some might say a fantasy)
This was the huge mistake—it's almost impossible to get men out of women's spaces once they have been allowed to be there
Great to hear from Dr. Greg Brown!
I don't think it matters if there are 2 or 2 million: if a single girl or woman loses out on a prize or a medal or a podium place, that is unfair and needs to be addressed
The "there are so few" argument is remarkably stupid on every level. By absurdly minimizing the number they admit that it's wrong. That it's harmful to girls. Otherwise lots of boys in girls' sports would be a good thing. Second, if small numbers are what make it ok, at what point is it not ok? Ten? 100? 10,000? And third, for "privacy" schools donot keep track of the number of their student-athletes who identify as the opposite sex, and even if they do know of a boy on a girls' team, they will not admit this publicly as it would "out" the student. Schools, including NCAA president Charlie Baker, do not know the number of boys in girls' sports
Your second point is one of the most important ones, Sarah
Even 1 is 1 too many.
Sarah - I am constantly being told that Trans Athletes make up an infinitesimally small number and that other issues should prioritize. The figure given was .0001 percent of Athletes are trans.
I likened that to .0001 percent of cyanide in a glass of water.
There’s also a reluctance to accept any kind of statistical proof.
Thoughts?
It depends on whether you're interested in how many male athletes are actually participating in women's sports (infintessimally small) or the number of trans athletes affected by the "anti-trans" sports bans (huge). I wrote an article about it, interviewing people from the Williams Institute, The Trevor Project and GLAAD. Please read it. https://www.thefemalecategory.com/p/are-trans-identified-teens-living. You have to see Williams Institute's chart but here is the paragraph based on that graph:
This shows the number of trans-identified kids ages 13-17 in each of the 29 states that mandate sex-based sports participation. It’s a lot. This is when the Williams Institute finds it useful not to know the rate at which trans-identified teens participate in sports. “It could be 20% or 1% or .001%,” Redfield said. Nonetheless, these numbers seem pretty high—71,200 trans-identified teens in Texas, a state that has never been a bastion of liberalism? Even if only 1% participate in sports, that’s 712 trans athletes who, if they’re following Texas law, are participating in their sex category. And not a single story in the news of dire harms from participating in one’s sex category.
Recall when the ACLU claimed in front of the Supreme Court that West Virginia’s law upholding sex-based sports affected only one person—their client, Becky Pepper-Jackson? Well huh. The Williams Institute found that that law affects 3,800 trans-identified kids in West Virginia. Even if only 1% of those kids played sports, that’s still 38 kids. Not just one. Remember Charlie Baker testifying before Congress that there were “less than ten” trans athletes in the NCAA? The Williams Institute stated that it’s “unlikely that transgender athletes make up more than 1.3% of the overall college athlete population.” Using that 1.3% of the NCAA’s total athlete population of 554,000 results in 7,202 trans-identified athletes. Not less than ten.
From my own personal experience as a coach at a small private Minnesota high school, there were more than 10 trans-identified students on opposite sex teams just on the small track and field and cross country teams, to say nothing of the rest of the school. In MN, where students can participate in sports according to their gender identity, EVERY high school has more than ten boys in girls' sports at any one time. They would sooner eat glass than report this of course. They may be shit athletes. Only the decent ones get noticed
Thanks Sarah. I’m never sure of the numbers. But of course 1 trans identified athlete can make for a very uncomfortable changing room and lost places on teams etc etc. Plus the the physical danger to a whole team in contact sports.
Even if they're mediocre athletes, trans identified males still have male advantage in strength, aggression and speed. It's a hostile and humiliating environment for girls and women in sport, when they're obliged to share changing rooms with these interlopers. Girls drop out of sport at high rates during puberty: single sex sport is really important to keep them active and engaged.
Well, they're not going to accept this either, but: https://hecheated.org/
Thank you so much for this post. Restocked!
Thank you for highlighting Dr Greg Brown