The years 2015-2020 have revealed an insidious disregard for the #female category by #OlympicGames @olympics executives and their corporate sponsors.
Male (XY) 🧬athletes now allowed into XX events.
Time to take stock re #women’s #sports.
Where did we begin?
Where are we going?
Our story begins in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 B.C.)
Forms of women’s competition were somewhat different than we experience in 2020 A.D.
Contests revolved around two key aspects of #Egyptian life:
1. Food acquisition- #hunting & #fishing
2. Entertaining - #acrobatics
Our story begins in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 B.C.)Forms of women’s competition were somewhat different than we experience in 2020 A.D.Contests revolved around two key aspects of #Egyptian life:1. Food acquisition- #hunting & #fishing2. Entertaining - #acrobatics
Our story begins in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 B.C.)Forms of women’s competition were somewhat different than we experience in 2020 A.D.Contests revolved around two key aspects of #Egyptian life:1. Food acquisition- #hunting & #fishing2. Entertaining - #acrobatics
Our story begins in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 B.C.)Forms of women’s competition were somewhat different than we experience in 2020 A.D.Contests revolved around two key aspects of #Egyptian life:1. Food acquisition- #hunting & #fishing2. Entertaining - #acrobatics
Our story begins in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 B.C.)Forms of women’s competition were somewhat different than we experience in 2020 A.D.Contests revolved around two key aspects of #Egyptian life:1. Food acquisition- #hunting & #fishing2. Entertaining - #acrobatics
True #sports for women really began in Ancient Greece during the Classical period (400 B.C.). Unmarried girls had their own private competitions - also at Olympia every 4years.
These were separate from the men’s games.
The festivals were held in honour of Hera, wife of Zeus.
Divided into three age categories, the girls ran over a distance of 500 Olympic feet (approximately 160m).
Standard competition gear was the short ”chiton”, a dress that offered freedom for legs to run and exposed right shoulder uncovered past the breast. 🤔❔
#female #sports
Divided into three age categories, the girls ran over a distance of 500 Olympic feet (approximately 160m). Standard competition gear was the short ”chiton”, a dress that offered freedom for legs to run and exposed right shoulder uncovered past the breast. #female #sports
Divided into three age categories, the girls ran over a distance of 500 Olympic feet (approximately 160m). Standard competition gear was the short ”chiton”, a dress that offered freedom for legs to run and exposed right shoulder uncovered past the breast. #female #sports
To understand the dress code, one need look no further than the #symbol of the #Greek #women #Olympic festival- the goddess #Atlanta.
The #huntress who refused to be married.
Even in the glory days of women’s #sports at #Olympia in Ancient Greece, many men felt uncomfortable with it.
There was not a wholesale acceptance.
The prospect of independent women engaged in physical play has always been a source of social discomfort throughout history.
Little is known about #women’s play or #sports in the span of time between Ancient Greece and a resumption of documented evidence in 19th Century.
[NOTE: Having witnessed village life in hidden communities deep in #Amazon, I am convinced girls have ALWAYS engaged in competition.]
So our story resumes in 19th Century #USA 🇺🇸.
I now refer to a book that was given to me as a gift by an #IAAF #WorldAthletics executive 20yrs ago.
A large section traces the roots of women in #trackandfield #athletics.
The next few tweets will rely on this account.
Stay tuned...
So our story resumes in 19th Century #USA .I now refer to a book that was given to me as a gift by an #IAAF #WorldAthletics executive 20yrs ago.A large section traces the roots of women in #trackandfield #athletics.The next few tweets will rely on this account.Stay tuned...
So our story resumes in 19th Century #USA .I now refer to a book that was given to me as a gift by an #IAAF #WorldAthletics executive 20yrs ago.A large section traces the roots of women in #trackandfield #athletics.The next few tweets will rely on this account.Stay tuned...
The crazy thing about history of woman’s movement(s) is how each campaign begins with some random group. “Right place, Right time” sort of thing.
Ex: Quaker women of wave 1 feminism.
No different re women’s #SPORTS.
Modern history begins with a school for girls in #NYstate #USA🇺🇸
While girls #basketball at Vassar College had been active for a while, it was that rainy day of November 9, 1895 that the school staged its first #FieldDay #TrackMeet with a few running & jumping events.
Nobody had trained & it was difficult performing in Victorian bloomers.
While girls #basketball at Vassar College had been active for a while, it was that rainy day of November 9, 1895 that the school staged its first #FieldDay #TrackMeet with a few running & jumping events.Nobody had trained & it was difficult performing in Victorian bloomers.
While girls #basketball at Vassar College had been active for a while, it was that rainy day of November 9, 1895 that the school staged its first #FieldDay #TrackMeet with a few running & jumping events.Nobody had trained & it was difficult performing in Victorian bloomers.
While girls #basketball at Vassar College had been active for a while, it was that rainy day of November 9, 1895 that the school staged its first #FieldDay #TrackMeet with a few running & jumping events.Nobody had trained & it was difficult performing in Victorian bloomers.
Field Day 1895 was so popular that in May 1896 #relay & #baseballthrow were added to the meet. Although a thick hedge had been grown around the field to avoid prying eyes, reporters and college boys flocked to the area to catch a glimpse. Records were broken due to training 3x/wk
Field Day 1895 was so popular that in May 1896 #relay & #baseballthrow were added to the meet. Although a thick hedge had been grown around the field to avoid prying eyes, reporters and college boys flocked to the area to catch a glimpse. Records were broken due to training 3x/wk
Field Day 1895 was so popular that in May 1896 #relay & #baseballthrow were added to the meet. Although a thick hedge had been grown around the field to avoid prying eyes, reporters and college boys flocked to the area to catch a glimpse. Records were broken due to training 3x/wk
KEY MOMENT:
The year of Vassar College 2nd Field Day (1896) was the SAME YEAR as the resumption of #OlympicGames. The first ☝🏼of the modern #Olympics.
Credit to French noblemen, Pierre de Courbertin, for leading the way.
His view of female participation was negative, dismissive.
KEY MOMENT:The year of Vassar College 2nd Field Day (1896) was the SAME YEAR as the resumption of #OlympicGames. The first of the modern #Olympics.Credit to French noblemen, Pierre de Courbertin, for leading the way.His view of female participation was negative, dismissive.
KEY MOMENT:The year of Vassar College 2nd Field Day (1896) was the SAME YEAR as the resumption of #OlympicGames. The first of the modern #Olympics.Credit to French noblemen, Pierre de Courbertin, for leading the way.His view of female participation was negative, dismissive.
KEY MOMENT:The year of Vassar College 2nd Field Day (1896) was the SAME YEAR as the resumption of #OlympicGames. The first of the modern #Olympics.Credit to French noblemen, Pierre de Courbertin, for leading the way.His view of female participation was negative, dismissive.
Despite De Coubertin’s beliefs women made their first appearance 4yrs later at the 1900 #OlympicGames in three #sports:
#sailing
#tennis
#golf
Despite De Coubertin’s beliefs women made their first appearance 4yrs later at the 1900 #OlympicGames in three #sports: #sailing #tennis #golf
Despite De Coubertin’s beliefs women made their first appearance 4yrs later at the 1900 #OlympicGames in three #sports: #sailing #tennis #golf
Despite De Coubertin’s beliefs women made their first appearance 4yrs later at the 1900 #OlympicGames in three #sports: #sailing #tennis #golf
In the decade that followed (1904-1912), three more events would be added:
#archery
#swimming
#diving

Still no #trackandfield!
And it wasn’t as if women were unprepared.
By then women’s “Field Days” were happening in many locations across the #English speaking world & #Europe.
In the decade that followed (1904-1912), three more events would be added: #archery #swimming #diving Still no #trackandfield!And it wasn’t as if women were unprepared.By then women’s “Field Days” were happening in many locations across the #English speaking world & #Europe.
In the decade that followed (1904-1912), three more events would be added: #archery #swimming #diving Still no #trackandfield!And it wasn’t as if women were unprepared.By then women’s “Field Days” were happening in many locations across the #English speaking world & #Europe.
In the decade that followed (1904-1912), three more events would be added: #archery #swimming #diving Still no #trackandfield!And it wasn’t as if women were unprepared.By then women’s “Field Days” were happening in many locations across the #English speaking world & #Europe.
Back at Vassar College the girls were making remarkable improvements in #trackandfield. In 1904, freshman Alice H. Belding wound up and launched a baseball ⚾️ 195 ft 3 inches.
#Baseball being the quintessential masculine sport of 19th Century, this #throw shocked the nation.
#USA
It gives me great satisfaction to read what one journalist wrote at that time:

“A (female) freshman from the city ( #Poughkeepsie, #NY) has forever silenced those male cynics who are fond of saying that a woman cannot throw anything.” (1904)

#trackandfield
#baseball
#USA 🇺🇸
Sadly, there would be no opportunity for that generation of remarkable young women to test their skills at the #OlympicGames.
At best this group of #female #athletes who were pioneers in the realm of #women’s #sports could look back with satisfaction at having set the stage.
#USA
And THEN a truly remarkable woman showed up:

Alice Milliat.

In all the history of women’s #sports up to that moment no woman had ever bothered to advocate for inclusion in standard male #sport at at a national or international level.
Improvement in communication (1900s) helped.
It was time of #sufferage.
A time when women found common cause in #political struggles.
So, when #AliceMilliat asked and @WorldAthletics #IAAF said NO to inclusion of women’s #trackandfield in the 1924 #Olympics, she was not deterred.
Women would stage their own #OlympicGames.🏆
And so it happened!
The inaugural WOMEN’s OLYMPIC GAMES was staged by the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) under the leadership of the fabulous #AliceMilliat 💐
Date: August 20, 1922
Location: Paris
Countries: #France 🇫🇷 #UK 🇬🇧 #USA 🇺🇸 #Switzerland🇨🇭 #Czech 🇨🇿
Note: It was a silent movie ⬆️so I added the music 😉
Actually, this looks like footage from a warm-up competition that was held in the Spring of that same year - 1922 - in Monte Carlo.
Nevertheless, it was a momentous year for #women’s #sports.
@SaveWomensSport
#SaveWomensSports
#OlympicGames for #biological🧬 #females ✅
While they lasted, the Women’s World Games under the leadership of #AliceMilliat and the FSFI organization were a tremendous success. Officially, there were FOUR Games: #Paris 1922, #Goteborg 1926, #Prague 1930 & #London 1934.
Details in chart.
What caused this movement to stop?
Answer to come...
The original desire of women like #AliceMilliat was that females SHOULD BE admitted to #OlympicGames competition.
When #WorldAthletics federation #IAAF & #IOC said “no” in 1921, the FSFI proceeded to PROVE that women COULD compete. After the 1926 Women’s Olympics it was clear...
The #IAAF & #IOC could no longer hold to the view that female athletes did not belong in the #OlympicGames.
FINALLY, in Amsterdam 1928, #female #athletes were FINALLY welcomed into the #Olympics.
HOWEVER, the cost of inclusion was a REDUCTION in number of events.
Argument shown⬇️
The #IAAF & #IOC could no longer hold to the view that female athletes did not belong in the #OlympicGames.FINALLY, in Amsterdam 1928, #female #athletes were FINALLY welcomed into the #Olympics.HOWEVER, the cost of inclusion was a REDUCTION in number of events.Argument shown
The #IAAF & #IOC could no longer hold to the view that female athletes did not belong in the #OlympicGames.FINALLY, in Amsterdam 1928, #female #athletes were FINALLY welcomed into the #Olympics.HOWEVER, the cost of inclusion was a REDUCTION in number of events.Argument shown
The #IAAF & #IOC could no longer hold to the view that female athletes did not belong in the #OlympicGames.FINALLY, in Amsterdam 1928, #female #athletes were FINALLY welcomed into the #Olympics.HOWEVER, the cost of inclusion was a REDUCTION in number of events.Argument shown
It is readily apparent in the charts ⬆️ pertaining to just the sport of #trackandfield #Athletics that women’s inclusion in #OlympicGames had a cost. The number of events offered to females was a fraction of the male number. While #AliceMilliat & #FSFI were pleased to...
...Have women FINALLY include in the #Olympics in 1928, they felt it was unacceptable that the cost to #female #athletes was a REDUCTION in the number of events offered! Therefore the #FSFI persisted in hosting the Women’s World Games until mid-1930s.
What these charts also illustrate is the amount of time it has taken for women’s #athletics to achieve parity with men’s #OlympicGames opportunities in terms of the number of events offered. Every✳️step✳️of✳️the✳️way✳️ has been a hard slog re: the argument for equal inclusion.
No better illustration of this fact than the premier event of #OlympicGames #Athletics - the #Marathon.
Let the record show that it took 84 years from women’s 1st ☝🏼 appearance in the #Olympics (1900 in Tennis) to being “allowed” to compete in this gem 💎 of an event.
#LosAngeles
A digression...
Given some of the terrible conditions early manifestations of this event, one wonders whether exclusion of women was a blessing.
The 1904 #OlympicGames #marathon in #StLouis was particularly “interesting”.

#trackandfield
As soon as women began to establish themselves in #sports the problem of #sex verification became an issue.
Between 1934-1938 there were at least three documented cases of #male #athletes discovers to be competing as “successful” #females in #athletics:
1.Zdenka Koubkova of Czechoslovakia- 800m (1934)
2. Stanislawa Walasiewicz of Poland - sprints (1935)
3. Dora Ratjen of Germany - High Jump (1938)
Various protocols and attempts at ”gate keeping” in women’s #Olympic #sports are listed and summarized ⬇️.
Item 3 is horrifying.😱
It seems like every approproach has been tried!
There is one on the list that might yet work.
Can you guess which one?

Concluding posts to come.
Most #female #athletes I know are very realistic about the performance differences between men and women. When women sought “parity” in #sports it was never in the sense of thinking we would achieve parity in performance!
It was ALWAYS about PARITY in ACCESS TO COMPETITION❗️
THIS is what the struggle was about!
👉🏼Parity of OPPORTUNITY ✔️

THIS is what #AliceMilliat and the FSFI and ALL those amazing female athletes of the past 100+years were fighting for❗️
How bitterly IRONIC, then, that after all the struggles, we arrive at near parity only to find he #IOC now inviting #male #athletes into our category!?
The BETRAYAL for people like me is both immense and profound.
How can this policy not tarnish the #OlympicGames brand?!
#Sports
Next moves are critical...
The chart of #Biological Verification methods identifies a brief period of time (Item 5; 1992-1999) in which testing for SRY gene on Y-chromosome was attempted. It was SUCCESSFUL!!
The question is WHY was this approach discontinued?
The ANSWER seems to be twofold:
The chart of #Biological Verification methods identifies a brief period of time (Item 5; 1992-1999) in which testing for SRY gene on Y-chromosome was attempted. It was SUCCESSFUL!!The question is WHY was this approach discontinued?The ANSWER seems to be twofold:
The chart of #Biological Verification methods identifies a brief period of time (Item 5; 1992-1999) in which testing for SRY gene on Y-chromosome was attempted. It was SUCCESSFUL!!The question is WHY was this approach discontinued?The ANSWER seems to be twofold:
This article in NATURE is the source:
https://www.nature.com/articles/gim2000258.pdf?origin=ppub

Apparent REASONS for discontinuing #genetic 🧬 screening in #Olympic #sports appear to be:

1. Time & $cost required to obtain samples and results

2. Not enough males “masquerading as females” to warrant concern.
Before I address why approach #5 SHOULD BE revisited, a quick vent:
👉🏼While it’s one thing to object to inadequacy of any particular gatekeeping measure, it is BEYOND THE PALE that 16yrs later the #IOC would U-turn and INVITE “masquerading males” to join #female #sports category!
There are FOUR REASONS why the #IOC #OlympicGames executives should immediately SUSPEND the 2015 policy in order to undertake a REVIEW. New trends in science & society => MITIGATING FACTORS:
1. MTF in adults⬆️
2. Trans in youth⬆️
3. Evidence in science⚠️
4. Advances in🧬testing
1. A dramatic ⬆️in number of fully-intact males who selfID as “women” and want access to #sports undermines the #IOC argument that there are “not enough cases to merit the cost of GENE TESTING” (SRY or Y-chromosome).
See the ever-expanding list:
👉🏼 https://savewomenssports.com/males-playing-as-females-1
2. A new cohort of “gender confused” athletes is about to reach high tide in #sports
Overblown capitulation to “gender theory” by governments 🌎 🌍 is leading to an astounding number of children & youth who are being exposed to cross-sex hormones.
Example: https://www.transgendertrend.com/surprising-referrals-children-tavistock-clinic-continue-soar/
3. Latest research shows that the 2015 #IOC policy DOESN’T WORK!

Results (2019) from Karolinska Institutet #Sweden indicate that even if a male athlete follows the recommended #testosterone reduction for 1year there is NO REDUCTION in #MALE ADVANTAGE!

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/782557v1
4. Some 20yrs after the #OlympicGames executives concluded that safeguarding women’s #Olympic #sports doesn’t merit the cost:benefit ratio of 🧬testing, NEW METHODOLOGIES hence are bound to change this assessment.
The #COVID #pandemic offers impetus.

Ex: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/spartan-covid19-test-kit-new-1.5530669
Quick, portable and made-in-Canada: Rapid COVID-19 test kits approved, shipping out | CBC News

The first shipments of a made-in-Canada, rapid COVID-19 test will begin arriving at federal and provincial health agencies this week, following approval of the new technology by Health Canada over...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/spartan-covid19-test-kit-new-1.5530669
The International #Olympic Committee unwisely enacted a policy in 2015 INVITING #males who “identify” as “women” to compete in the #female #athlete category.
By their own words the #IOC made a commitment to REVIEW this policy should mitigating factors arise.
THE TIME HAS COME ‼️
I CONCLUDE this lengthy THREAD with key clip of Beth Stelzer of @SaveWomensSport who interviewed me recently.



Please, #IOC, SUSPEND your policy and commit to a balance and thorough REVIEW.🙏

#SaveWomensSports
SAVE #Tokyo2020 #Tokyoインパール2020

END🌹
Thanks @SaveWomensSport for your advocacy!🙏🏼
Someday EVERYONE in the #USA🇺🇸 is going to know about this troublesome fact of #male participants demanding access into #female #Olympic competition & also into #NCAA sports.
Ethical men (like @joerogan) are allies🌹
More to join🤞🏼
And THEN today we witness THIS exchange⬇️
One ☝🏼little TweetyBird asks a seemingly stupid pair of questions; yet unwittingly poses the GRAND QUERY.
Dear #IOC #OlympicGames executives:
What is your answer?
What IS the VALUE of women & girls being able to compete fairly?

#waiting
AND SO... We now arrive at this beautiful moment where 30 women's groups from 10 countries band together to ask the #IOC to please SUSPEND their ill-considered 2015 guidance allowing male athletes to compete in women's #sports
https://savewomenssports.com/iocpetition 
This is only the beginning.
Save Women's Sports

Males should not compete in Women's Olympic events. Sign our petition today!

https://savewomenssports.com/iocpetition
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