Emily (formerly Zack) Bridges has issued A Statement:
“I am an athlete, and I just want to race competitively,” he says, skipping lightly over the fact that he just wants to race competitively against people who are systematically smaller and less muscular than he is.
“No one should have to choose between who they are, and participating in the sport they love.”
But it isn’t who he is, it’s who he isn’t. Who he is is a man, with a massive physical advantage over the women he wants to race against. Yes he should have to choose, because it’s grossly unfair to the women if he doesn’t.
“I’ve been relentlessly harassed and demonised by those who have a specific agenda to push,” he says. What about his specific agenda? What about his specific agenda to compete against women when he has the body of a man? What about the obvious (yet widely ignored or hidden or both) unfairness of that?
No mention. Of course. It’s all about him.
Also he apparently included a photo with his “statement.”
Note the come-hither lips-ajar pose.
Updating to add a less artificial photo, courtesy of Lady Mondegreen:
Comments
17 responses to “He just wants to race competitively”
Very windswept and breathless, the profile angle of the artificial chest, quite the fabrication.
Had to shut off social media because of harassment? Well, maybe he does know a little about what it feels like to be a woman…
That photo all but shouts “come see how female I look under optimal conditions” – a studio shoot with professional hair and makeup, soft focus, and of course the come hither posing.
https://twitter.com/MayaInMars/status/1509939652639268873?t=uj9zDMS-RHvXnjPLagWrIA&s=09
For comparison:
https://twitter.com/antoniafrances/status/1509978788976857088?t=qKzQZTcH3ZP-ceyjwSG8rg&s=19
Is that his mum in heels? :D
Prof Stock’s reaction = priceless! :D
“No one should have to choose between who they are, and participating in the sport they love.”
Well you can’t have your cake and eat it. If you’ve decided you’re a woman, and that is of paramount important, you might have to give up your sport at high competitive level as you won’t be regarded as eligible by those you compete against and the relevant sporting bodies. However you don’t have to give up the sport per se – you can still cycle competitively, if not in the most stellar team. But if living as a woman is so important to you, that’s the choice you have made.
Others have found that “living your authentic self” meant sacrifices. Plenty of talented people have lived their authentic selves as painters, or musicians, or writers, or actors and found the life very hard – little recognition and less money. The mere fact of being authentic hasn’t given them the exhibitions, the gigs, the publishers, the fame that they would love – others have to appreciate their talents enough to pay them something for it. The world is full of the broken-hearted who had great ambitions and abilities and didn’t get the breaks. There are also the deluded who mistook their talents as being greater than they actually were. But that’s life, sonny.
Prof. Stock’s comment wins the internet for at least a month.
Ophelia, PLEASE put up that photo of him with his mum alongside the photoshop! It’s hilarious!
Re “No one should have to choose between who they are, and participating in the sport they love.”
Such obfuscation. You are the same person, whether you dress a certain way or another way, whether you go by your legal name or a nickname, if you play one sport or another or none. None of that changes who you are. If the person you are has been convicted of cheating and ruled ineligible, or is not in the correct age range, or is missing the required qualification results, or is of the wrong sex, then the person you are may well impede your ability to participate in the sport you love in the manner you wish. But you don’t get to choose the person you are, and nothing you do makes you a different person.
Re “But it isn’t who he is, it’s who he isn’t. Who he is is a man, with a massive physical advantage over the women he wants to race against. Yes he should have to choose, because it’s grossly unfair to the women if he doesn’t.”
And because he is male, and the women’s race category is for women, for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that men have a massive physical advantage, but that’s not the only reason. Women’s literary prizes don’t exist because men have a physical advantage, but because women are discriminated against, and the separate category provides opportunity; the same with sports. Even if men and women were equal in ability in some sport, a separate women’s category makes sense as a way to remedy discrimination.
Yes, good point. The Orange Prize was necessary because novels by women just somehow hardly ever got nominated.
“I just want to race competitively again.”
You can. The men’s division is still open to you. Race as competitively as you want.
More than that, though, you’re lying. You don’t “just” want to race competitively. You want to cheat to win. That makes you not a good person. It makes you a liar and a cheat.
He could always race against Poison Ivy. Wasn’t he just saying that there’s nobody at his level in the whole wide world? Here’s his chance!
I just want to race competitively in these bike races, too. So what if my ride has a 390cc four-stroke engine on it? Don’t be enginephobic.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/cycling/top-cyclists-scared-to-speak-out-over-trans-rival-emily-bridges-ahead-of-national-omnium-championships-c-6261452
Here’s a more recent Emily with long hair, unphotoshopped.
There’s photos of him somewhere in a recent race with his male team members, showing they are all the same build and height. No one gave him any grief about his gender identity. He will probably continue racing in the men’s section now.
JG @#12: Or btter still, a top-of-the-line Harley-Davidson with a pair of pedals off a toddler’s tricycle sicking out each side.
The photo with his mom is funny but misleading. By all accounts he’s 5’9”, and pictures of him with males show he’s not particularly tall for a male. So, yes, tall for a woman, but his mom must be not much over 4’ tall (in uncropped versions of that photo you can see she’s wearing very high heels and is still that short). He’s not 6’5” as you’d think if you assumed his mom was closer to the average height for a woman.
He was also successful in the male division, so doesn’t fit the narrative of unsuccessful male athlete switching to the female division to win. Still shouldn’t be allowed to compete with women though.
There is no “narrative” of unsuccessful male athlete switching to the female division to win. I’m not telling stories or spinning fairy tales here. The fact that Bridges “was successful” in his own division is irrelevant to the fact that he will gain a massive advantage by forcing himself on the women.
I think Skeletor is referring to a common strain of argument seen in comments here and many other places. William Thomas, Rhys McKinnon, Gavin Hubbard, all have been referred to as mediocre male athletes seeking glory in the women’s division. I recall some people, myself included, objecting in response that, while Thomas was not championship caliber at the end of his time with the men’s team, he was nonetheless an excellent swimmer with some notable accomplishments in his men’s team career. The sentiment is common enough that a meme was created about it (one instance is seen in this Facebook photo).