women's running

I'm an open-level elite biological female athlete, a distance runner. But we have a 12-year old transgender girl in our junior running group. We had to witness yet another U14 age group win against biological girls in a 1500m race at the weekend. It is saddening to see young girls in second and third place unwittingly (at this stage) accepting their loss to a boy. The issue bothers me terribly, especially when the parent tends to boast about the performance and small size of the child up against natural girls who have matured faster, as that is what happens between boys and girls during puberty in a lot of cases. It doesn't affect me competitively due to age differences, but it really seems to affect me because it's an insult to our sex-based rights to fair competition and has implications for the future. I have seen this child beat biological girls "her" own age in competition, nobody openly seems to be concerned. She is also beaten by biological girls, but who is to know what is going to start happening next? I don't know what the evidence says about transgender female athletes who take puberty blockers and if there will be future biological advantages. But it's really hard to talk openly to anyone about this because of political correctness and fear, and don't take a minute to think about what it means for us. It's almost criminal in their eyes for me to even talk or mention it out in the open. There are other women I talk to quietly in the shadows about this. One of them is a mother of a young girl who has to race this trans athlete. The mother has told me that her daughter has said "Oh mum, none of us have a chance against her." I can't find it within me to support this child and her parents in the group, nor support my coach's choice to support this child and help her develop into an athlete. I find it absolutely insulting and I am feeling quite a bit of cognitive dissonance because I am all for including people, not being a bully to anyone and I am a nice person.

I emailed our local sporting organisation about this, Athletics Victoria. I found out that this child was registered as a female and there is no other evidence to suggest otherwise that they can find. So they have to accept this transgender girl into track races. They also wanted me to read their inclusivity policy that has no mention of fairness. I emailed back and questioned them why they do not have any checks and balances in place to ensure athletes enter themselves into the correct category to prevent an unfair advantage, such as birth certificates? No answer back yet.

What is going to happen to the future of our sport? What will happen if this transgender girl continues to grow as a biological male identifying as a female and continues to beat girls and women as they progress?

Feeling down and frustrated.

#australia #melbourne #victoria #sports #womenssports #running #faircompetition

premenstrual dysphoric disorder support group

In our online support group for sufferers of pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, a woman was posting a lot about her sex life, struggles with complex mental health issues, and talking about killing herself because she was suffering so severely from PMDD. She listed all the ways the medical profession were letting her down. She monopolised the conversation and elicited hours of support time from many, many women in the group. Turns out she was a man. Men don't have periods. She was misappropriating our time, channeling support away from where it was needed in the context of the group - and almost certainly getting a sexual kick out of it going on the number of posts he shared about his sex life. She could also have been getting satisfaction from reading the stories of struggling women in the group.

#unitedkingdom #england #pmdd #premenstrualdysphoricdisorder #supportgroup #fetishes

maternity hospital experience

My story is from 26 years ago. I was hospitalised in the mid trimester of my pregnancy due to severe bleeding. I was there for 2 months. Masada private hospital in East St Kilda, had a maternity wing (they have since closed down the maternity ward) and a general wing. This hospital performed transgender surgery too. Maternity was full and I had to be admitted to the general ward. I was placed in a strange part at the back section of the general ward. It was nowhere near Maternity. This room had 6 beds and the room was divided down the middle by a wall with a walk through space at the end for bathroom access. Hence, 3 beds either side of the dividing wall. The bathroom was on my side. I was very unwell and felt very vulnerable because of my pregnancy, which was touch and go. I had the very real fear that I was going to lose my baby. I was required to rest and stay calm to ensure my pregnancy had the best chance of survival. I was alone on my side, however, on the other side were 3 transgender surgery patients. That was uncomfortable enough but when they appeared to use the bathroom this made me feel I wasn’t in a safe space. The last straw was when one individual appeared, stood at the bathroom door and leered at me for a lingering period of time, probably a good 5 seconds, then they swung their head around nose in air and in to the bathroom. I felt so intimidated that I had a panic attack , got immediately out of bed in a very distressed state and rushed through the hospital into the maternity ward and broke down uncontrollably. The midwives were lovely and supportive but it was only then that a private room close to maternity, where I could feel safe, was found for me. I was furious that my sense of security and well being wasn’t considered until I had the degrading situation in that shared first divided room, where I had become so distressed they had to do something about it. Why is it that biological women continue to be the losers in this new WOKE culture? I refuse to be labelled a person that menstruates, a person with a uterus, a chest-feeder rather than a breast-feeder. I’m a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother and I demand to have safe spaces that I, my mother, and my daughter can rely on having. Spaces not shared with males, who by just saying ‘they identify as female’, can enter. As a woman I’m questioning why is it that my rights and sensibilities not respected?

#australia #stkilda #maternityward #singlesexwards