Rob Mullins
@robertmullins.bsky.social
Associate Professor, University of Queensland. My views are not the views of my employer.
Someone's sexual identity isn't something you can just reassign because it suits your commitment to fairness in sport. By all means, argue for her exclusion if you think it's right. But the fact you can't help doing it in such an ugly way is deeply telling.
November 27, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Someone's sexual identity isn't something you can just reassign because it suits your commitment to fairness in sport. By all means, argue for her exclusion if you think it's right. But the fact you can't help doing it in such an ugly way is deeply telling.
If you are ridiculing and misgendering a woman who was assigned female *at birth* and who is understood by all who know and love her to be a woman, simply for having the temerity to want to compete in the sport she loves, then that's very, very ugly.
November 27, 2025 at 7:25 AM
If you are ridiculing and misgendering a woman who was assigned female *at birth* and who is understood by all who know and love her to be a woman, simply for having the temerity to want to compete in the sport she loves, then that's very, very ugly.
I think it's at least mildly interesting that they aren't really bothering to find their own domestic experts, or even really offer an argument based on expertise. (Obviously that doesn't make it any easier for those affected.)
November 27, 2025 at 7:13 AM
I think it's at least mildly interesting that they aren't really bothering to find their own domestic experts, or even really offer an argument based on expertise. (Obviously that doesn't make it any easier for those affected.)
I'm not saying I'd agree with it but it would at least isolate the biological feature that the research indicates is important to athletic performance.
November 27, 2025 at 1:35 AM
I'm not saying I'd agree with it but it would at least isolate the biological feature that the research indicates is important to athletic performance.
I think it's also telling that they are so reluctant to make arguments based on biological characteristics rather than reifying historical sex categories. I'd be much more sympathetic to an argument that sports should be segregated on the basis of pubertal history than an argument based on sex.
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I think it's also telling that they are so reluctant to make arguments based on biological characteristics rather than reifying historical sex categories. I'd be much more sympathetic to an argument that sports should be segregated on the basis of pubertal history than an argument based on sex.
I think @legalclaret.bsky.social (who I was initially responding to)is in good faith and being constructive, for what it's worth. It's the usual suspects who jumped into the replies.
November 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I think @legalclaret.bsky.social (who I was initially responding to)is in good faith and being constructive, for what it's worth. It's the usual suspects who jumped into the replies.
As you say, so often it boils down to "these people and those who love them are deluded and wrong". They are doing it to intersex people now so at least they're consistent. I hope people start to see how ugly this is.
November 27, 2025 at 12:56 AM
As you say, so often it boils down to "these people and those who love them are deluded and wrong". They are doing it to intersex people now so at least they're consistent. I hope people start to see how ugly this is.
If that's the case, then you wouldn't object to people forming leagues for cis+trans women *if they want to*. And that's my point, I think some trans exclusionary types fear that this will become more popular.
November 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
If that's the case, then you wouldn't object to people forming leagues for cis+trans women *if they want to*. And that's my point, I think some trans exclusionary types fear that this will become more popular.
Yes. I worry that it is corrosive to academic freedom. I think it also explains, sadly, the growing influence of think tanks and external funding on research. In Australia pay is good but teaching hours are climbing rapidly.
November 26, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Yes. I worry that it is corrosive to academic freedom. I think it also explains, sadly, the growing influence of think tanks and external funding on research. In Australia pay is good but teaching hours are climbing rapidly.
I remember someone telling me about an Oxford academic who used to conduct tutorials on the train to London when he was on his way to court. I assumed this wasn't such a new thing.
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
I remember someone telling me about an Oxford academic who used to conduct tutorials on the train to London when he was on his way to court. I assumed this wasn't such a new thing.
Well the elite sports bodies are currently set on banning *intersex* women, so I hope they have a justification for banning non-trans women that checks out otherwise they are in for a rude shock.
November 26, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Well the elite sports bodies are currently set on banning *intersex* women, so I hope they have a justification for banning non-trans women that checks out otherwise they are in for a rude shock.
I guess the "Blue Labour" thing reminded me of the "Lindsay test", and the way a few of the old guard tried way too hard to please the Murdoch press, but you're right that the analogy is a shallow one.
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I guess the "Blue Labour" thing reminded me of the "Lindsay test", and the way a few of the old guard tried way too hard to please the Murdoch press, but you're right that the analogy is a shallow one.
Right. I'm not trying to start a debate about that. I'm probably phrasing things poorly. I guess my point is that we can have these debates from a standpoint that begins with inclusion as the default but concedes that exclusion can or might be justified.
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Right. I'm not trying to start a debate about that. I'm probably phrasing things poorly. I guess my point is that we can have these debates from a standpoint that begins with inclusion as the default but concedes that exclusion can or might be justified.
John might have more insight but the whole thing reminds me of the rudd-gillard years, including their chasing after a fantasy electorate. They were bad times.
November 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM
John might have more insight but the whole thing reminds me of the rudd-gillard years, including their chasing after a fantasy electorate. They were bad times.
If you're lucky it will just be once!
November 26, 2025 at 10:24 AM
If you're lucky it will just be once!
I think sports are the tail wagging the dog. Once we accept trans people in their acquired sex, we enact a social reality. People start to think of their trans friends as like any other man or woman, and wonder why they can't join the netball team. Exclusion becomes something you need to justify.
November 26, 2025 at 10:23 AM
I think sports are the tail wagging the dog. Once we accept trans people in their acquired sex, we enact a social reality. People start to think of their trans friends as like any other man or woman, and wonder why they can't join the netball team. Exclusion becomes something you need to justify.
I feel like you'd need a change in Labour party leadership. The current lot seem to have more of a "Flight 93" mindset.
November 26, 2025 at 9:23 AM
I feel like you'd need a change in Labour party leadership. The current lot seem to have more of a "Flight 93" mindset.
Thanks so much!
November 25, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Thanks so much!
Do you have a way of sharing the full version of the letter, Rachael?
November 25, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Do you have a way of sharing the full version of the letter, Rachael?
I'm very sorry. I am not British but I'm really distressed by it and struggling to understand it.
November 25, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I'm very sorry. I am not British but I'm really distressed by it and struggling to understand it.