Will a 'Participation in Women’s Sport' Conference Mention the Men in it?

By Ella Witchwood

(Note: The War On Women Will be publishing pieces by women (and men) who have been banned by Medium, Twitter and other social networking site. Please share this newsletter and let others know. Our first piece is by Ella Witchwood.)

The Women’s History Network is currently asking for submissions from speakers for their Women in Sport conference which will take place at Worcester University in November. This request ('call for papers') reads:

“The last decade has seen an upsurge in female participation in sport, with girls and women becoming more visible as participants at grassroots level and celebrated for their competitive achievements at elite level… Whilst these are positive facts it’s true to say that female equality in sport has not yet been achieved. It is also well known that girls and women have not always found it easy to pursue their sporting aspirations.”

Not always found it easy? They can certainly say that again. No doubt what the conference organizers are looking for are papers providing examples from history of women who have defied their society's expectations, women who have achieved sporting success though exhausting themselves trying to balance the demands of a such a career with family commitments, or having to abandon the option of a family life altogether- and always for less money, sponsorship and credibility than male athletes have had. History provides no shortage of such examples; but what the Women's History Conference would find still more worthwhile would be to bring a historian's perspective to bear upon the present, because here and now, before their very eyes, the *worst thing ever* to happen to women’s sport is taking place in real time.

I contacted the organiser, Dr Wendy Toon, and asked if it will be permissible to discuss women being forced out of their own sports to accommodate men who identify as women? Given that this issue is arguably the most pressing one in women's sport today, one would have thought this would be reflected in the call for papers. The matter could hardly be more relevant at a time when the US president has just signed an executive order to the effect that high schools must allow trans identified males to compete in girls’ sports. Already, this is resulting in girls losing regional heats to male pupils, and possibly scholarships along with them that could be their only chance of gaining a college place. To ensure compliance Biden will punish *all* pupils (by cutting financial support) should schools dare to raise questions of the risk to physical safety, the reduction of opportunities in life, or above all the *fairness*, to girls.  

This conference will no doubt talk about the struggle of women throughout history, firstly even to have their own sports, and then the disproportionate difficulty, compared with their male counterparts, of achieving success in them, and that throughout history right up to and including the present day, many professional sportswomen have needed a second job to make ends meet due to the lack of sponsorship and media interest in all-female competitions. It is of course important that we be reminded of this, but why bother, if you’re not going to point out that already women’s cycling and weightlifting championships have been won by out of shape middle-aged men, who could never compete in their own sex-category but can easily beat women half their age and at the top of their game? Can anyone meaningfully talk about the history of women’s weightlifting and not include the image of 41 year old transwoman Laurel Hubbard standing on the podium, beaming at having won gold, whist the 18 year old female silver and bronze winners flank Laurel looking miserable? 'Laurel' won weightlifting records as 'Gavin' in the 1990s, but would certainly not qualify for the men’s heats twenty years on, yet in the name of inclusion and ‘rights’, Laurel has won two women’s world championships, including the money that comes with the titles.

But anyone who says this isn’t fair is a bigot. Today's crisis in women's sport is in a sense matched by a crisis in today's academia, in which a person who even mentions how women are losing championship titles to transwomen risks being frogmarched out of the conference- if indeed they are allowed through the door in the first place.

To be fair, Dr Toon responded to my enquiry and is neutral, saying if relevant to the topic, and if the paper focuses on sport history, there’s no reason why this issue can’t be mentioned – but there’s no guarantee such a paper will be selected. 

I’d love to be a fly on the wall at this conference. Universities are absolutely awful places at the moment, where wrong-think can cost you your job (see this website where dozens of uni staff and students have given examples of trans cultism - https://gcacademianetwork.weebly.com). With this in mind, I doubt they would accept any paper that highlights the clear and present danger of women’s sport becoming a mere historical curiosity.

But if a 'Women in Sport' conference is to fulfil its remit- if indeed, the Women's History Network is to justify the study of history itself as anything other than a catalogue of that which is no longer of relevance- it must remind us and serve to warn us that what's past is very much in the present.