The story of Katherine Deves, her opposition to trans women in sport, and her support in the Liberal Party is all about misdirection.
Text messages from NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to Prime Minister Scott Morrison supporting a ban on trans women in sport were splashed across the front of News Corp newspapers and websites this morning. News.com.au’s Samantha Maiden wrote that Perrottet denied leaking the texts, suggesting that it was the prime minister’s office — an exceedingly common occurrence for his “private” communications.
Regardless of where it came from, the leak shows support for Morrison’s backing of Deves, makes life awkward for NSW Treasurer Matt Kean after his public intervention and, perhaps most importantly, tries to centre the public debate around the issue of trans women in sport.
But that’s not what the past week of coverage has been about. The attention on Deves has been because she spent years publicly espousing transphobic views to anyone who would listen. She tweeted thousands of times, she made public submissions linking being transgender to autism, she gave interviews where she made claims that were not only reprehensible but also flat-out wrong. Those arguments that gender transition will be used by sexual predators and paedophiles are cribbed straight from anti-gay arguments from the 1970s.
The reaction to Deves has been because of her lies, her disgust and her obsession with a marginalised group that she gladly broadcast when the bright lights of election scrutiny weren’t on her.
(Deves has the audacity to even use rainbow imagery in her campaign video which is an obvious attempt to invoke the LGB — and yes –T flag.)
If it’s not clear from the above, Deves’ advocacy on trans women in sport is only part of her interest in trans people. In an interview posted at the end of 2020 after she had already co-founded Save Women’s Sport Australasia, she said as much: “This is my very great interest, fighting against this gender identity ideology.”
The anti-trans women in women’s sport private members bill created by Liberal Senator Claire Chandler, supported by Deves and backed by Morrison and a handful of government members is another misdirection. As Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg said, the Sex Discrimination Act already has carve-outs for allowing exclusion based on biological advantages that transgender people might have.
Sports bodies around the world have spent years figuring out how to handle the intricacies of gender and competition. These policies are still being worked on, but also something that is well within their domain. The idea that the federal Parliament would come stomping into this area to mandate this is like if members of Parliament wanted to codify different boxing weight categories into law. It doesn’t make any sense.
Importantly, it’s not something that women in sport want either. Sport researchers Erik Denison and Richard Pringle found that most women who played rugby union expressed strong support for inclusion of trans women. Fewer than a quarter of women club sport athletes in another survey thought trans women had an unfair advantage. (You know who were about twice as likely to think trans women had an unfair advantage? Men.)
So if women in sport want trans women to be included — and noting that trans women are a quite a small part of the population, and their participation would affect a very small number of others — why is Morrison spending his week doubling-down on a transphobic candidate whose single claim to fame is her public advocacy against trans women in sport?
It’s because Morrison’s support for Deves isn’t really about trans women in sport. We know that trans women in sport is the thin edge of the wedge against trans people and the LGBTIQA+ movement generally. It’s been used that way in the US and UK. Specifically, anti-trans rhetoric is a way to court women back towards conservative politics — a group Morrison is desperate to claw back support from.
We’re seeing a stubborn, desperate prime minister who is still a long way back in the polls hoping that maybe Deves could be the Israel Folau of the 2022 federal election and bring religious, socially conservative voters back home. Calling the reporting and criticism of her past comments is a manipulative attempt to frame her — a candidate backed by the prime minister running for a former blue ribbon seat for the party — as the victim and not the marginalised group she has spent years smearing.
Will it work? As noted in previous pieces, Australians overwhelmingly support trans people having the same rights and protections as other Australians. But with Morison dog-whistling about it, with News Corp highlighting it across its mastheads, public opinion could change.
I’ve written a lot about Deves over the past week but the last word on this belongs to someone whose gender identity has been talked about a lot, but has been given scarce opportunity to be heard.
Sally Goldner is the joint founder of Transgender Victoria. When I spoke to her on the phone about the past week she told me she was over it: “I’ve been out 27 years this month. The same old nonsense keeps popping its head up.”
Goldner said the national conversation around Deves was evoking unpleasant memories of the same-sex marriage debate when trans people were used as the bogeyman.
“This is taking up a lot of space where there’s more important things to talk about. We need to talk about the real trans issues, such as inclusive healthcare, such as a uniform approach to recording gender,” she said.
“This is an issue that’s made up by people outside the group. They don’t understand it, they don’t have any skin in the game, and they simply don’t care.”
Having failed to get his “religious discrimination” bill through parliament, Morrison is trying to throw some red meat (or at least a chicken-bone or two) to his religious Right base and the professional bigots in certain lobby organisations who are dissatisfied with his failure to enforce their prejudices.
Seems the religious lobby will only be happy if AustraIia restarted the Religious Inquisition times and they
have all the power of that time, and Morrison agrees – though I think he might be their first victim 😉
Isn’t this just the liar from the Shire trying to bring in the redneck vote?
Sure, if by redneck you mean Asian Christian migrants in the Sydney ring, that voted against SSM.
Having spent a lot of time with such people, I can say that the issue of who gets to compete in which sport is not a major issue, even if Scotty thinks he’s onto a winner.
it may not be an issue for men who impersonate women. But have you asked women how they feel about it?
My point is that East Asians don’t usually think sport, whether for men or women, is at all important.
From para 10, in case you haven’t read that far:
“Fewer than a quarter of women club sport athletes in another survey thought trans women had an unfair advantage. (You know who were about twice as likely to think trans women had an unfair advantage? Men.)”
If you have read that far, perhaps you have some data to share with us?
“Australian superstar Emma McKeon and Swimming Australia President Tracy Stockwell (née Caulkins) have weighed in on the transgender debate that has been a hot topic in the sport for the past few months.
Both athletes, who are Olympic champions, noted the importance of maintaining fairness in the sport for women, and ensuring a level playing field…
The argument against transgender women competing against biological women hinges on the effects of male puberty and the production of years of testosterone, along with advantages such as greater lung capacity, hand and feet size and built-up strength.
McKeon, who won seven medals at last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, discussed the issue with Australian media and indicated the need for fairness in competition.
“I mean, I personally wouldn’t want to be racing against someone who is biologically a male, so that’s a concern,” McKeon said. “It’s not a new thing, but it’s new in that sport, swimming, are going to have to deal with it.
“I don’t think I’m going to have to race against a trans swimmer. I don’t think it’s going to come to that point. Now that it’s a growing thing, the sport has to think about how to handle it and how to deal with it, because you do want to be inclusive, but you don’t want to have females racing against swimmers who are biologically male because it’s just not fair.” 20 April 2022.
So where does this leave women with less than average physicality? Should we ban tall girls from Goal Defense positions in Netball or from playing basketball at all? Or female swimmers with larger hands from swimming events? Should Dawn Fraser, Margaret Whitlam or Venus Williams have been allowed to compete in women’s sport?
On the, perhaps unwarranted, assumption that you meant East Asians rather than the deliberately obfuscatory ABS designation ‘West Asian’, the more excitable members of that cohort in ‘the Area’ and – again with the deliberately euphemistic obfuscation – SW Sydney LGA are open to blandishments and manipulation.
On the subject of obfuscation and euphemisms, surely “Europe” is just an obfuscatory euphemism for West Asia
Hardly.
Europe is deemed to be a continent – one of seven – one of which is Asia.
‘West Asia‘ was a fudge thunk up, in abuse of language, common sense and geographic reality.
It was a cultural camouflage in reaction to PHONies’ clamour about unsuitable sources of immigration as its ever widening ire moved from just East Asia.
It was meant to deflect scrutiny and obscure the origin of the more excitable chappies from east of the Bosphorus and north of the Sahara as far as the edge of the Indian subcontinent.
Europe may be “deemed” to be a continent, but looking at a map shows it clearly isn’t. Strictly speaking, a continent is a continuous tract of land. Europe is part of a continuous tract of land, most of which is known as Asia. There is no dividing line
Ever heard of the Urals?
Of course, but they are no more relevant to the question of whether Europe is a continent than the Alps are
True because your proposition is irrelevant – just time wasting.
A little learning is a dangerous thing, ignorance is more perilous but ianane attempts at sophistry are just risible.
Morrison & his clueless ministers find time & energy to focus elsewhere while the Solomon Islands slip through our fingers to affiliate with China (a nation which is, according to Dutton, a great threat to our nation). Priorities….?
I never thought that I would say it – but maybe (on this) Dutton is more attuned to what really matters than Smirko
False flag much?
“Please, Brer Fox, don’t throw me in the briar patch.”
Lenin would be laughing in his Red Square mausoleum at the tide of useful idiots sweeping the worried well, western world.
Scomo and Deves transphobic stunts are similar to the Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene who called for physical violence against transgender on the Alex Jones show.
Scomo does not give a crap about women’s sports, he wants to erase a minority groups right to exist in his quest for more votes.
but even more importantly, harvest the votes of these Neanderthals, who actually give the term Neanderthal a bad name.