“In South Africa the system of oppression implemented segregation as a form of control over Black people and People of Colour so as to uphold a patriarchal White supremacist system of power. We don’t think it is hyperbole to say that segregating women who play sport into a category of their own – Women’s Sport – and then policing that category violently, is an example of the use of the same method of oppression by the very same system of power. (131)”
Here’s the book in question – Open Play: The Case for Feminist Sport, by Sheree Bekker and Stephen Mumford. Released at the beginning of the month, and already it’s garnered three 5-star and one 4-star reviews.
And, from Caster Semenya:
‘Imagine a world where anyone was free to reach their full potential playing the sport they love; a world where open competition replaced discrimination and exclusion, and where athletes were judged by their performances on the field rather than their conformity with gender norms. Sheree Bekker and Stephen Mumford show us how to get there, and how far we have to go. This courageous book should spark a revolution in sport.’
Review by Jon Pike here. Not open access, but he gives a quick breakdown on X:
But the book is terrible. Its central claim is that the performance differences between males and females in sport …are entirely a social construction, and would disappear if we abolished female sport. In the review I say that this is a preposterous claim that ignores thousands of scientific studies that explain the performance differences …… between the sexes by reference to the physiological differences between the sexes. It is a peculiar kind of pseudo-philosophical arrogance to ignore these studies, about heart size, limb length, musculature, skeletal structure, body shape, and so on (and on) and just …… explain these away as socialisation effects. There are resourcing, training time and attentional inequalities in sport, to be sure. But Mumford and Bekker undermine the argument for equal resourcing. They are, to repeat, for the abolition of women’s sport, not its equal… The abolition of sport specifically for women is part of a patriarchal, anti-feminist programme, not a feminist or egalitarian one, whatever its proponents say, and however eminent they are. …… This book should be roundly trounced and rejected.
Never did Orwell’s quote, “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them“, have more resonance. The degree of ideological capture required to come up with this palpable nonsense defies belief. And, of course, this call for the abolition of women’s sport is dressed up as progressive and “feminist”.
What a time to be alive.
Mick Hartley 
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