'Binary sex matters': Olympian Sharron Davies sparks transphobia row after bizarre desert island analogy
Olympian medallist Sharron Davies, MBE, has been branded transphobic and homophobic following a set of tweets arguing 'binary sex matters'.
The 56-year-old, who has spoken about an ‘unfair’ biological advantage of trans sportswomen, said:
If you put 2 biological females on an island humanity dies out (but they’d talk loads) if you put a biological male & a trans woman on an island humanity dies out. But if u put a male & a female there we might stand a chance! Providing they can fish of course. Binary Sex matters [sic].
In a follow-up tweet the former British swimmer, who won an Olympic silver medal in 1980, added: "And if we haven’t killed all the fish with plastic first!!"
Davies is facing backlash from LGBT+ people online.
One Twitter user pointed out that if there were two people left in the world, they’d still die because lack a lack of genetic diversity. You know. Science.
This is because Sharron's scenario will mean inbreeding...
Have you seen those puppy farms?!
Actually, binary sex doesn't matter.
Another suggested that not all biological men and women are fertile...
And even if there was a heterosexual, biological male and female on the island - who's to say they would actually want children, anyway?
Also: Binary sex is not the only way to reproduce.
Others were less diplomatic in their criticism.
And thought Sharron was using the ridiculous scenario as a way of invalidating a vulnerable group in society.
This isn't the first time the former Olympian has been criticised for her views on transgender people. In March she told The Daily Telegraph that allowing transgender athletes to enter female competitions "has the potential to ruin women’s sport".
"Michael Phelps has size 15 feet; your average female swimmer has size six," she said. "If someone is a good swimmer and they decide they want to transition to being a female, none of our girls would stand a chance."
"It’s not anything to do with saying sport isn’t for everybody, it’s asking how we classify it," she added.
And rather than classifying it by gender, we have to classify it by sex. And if the transgender society aren’t happy with that, we’ll have to talk to governing bodies about an alternative, a transgender games or something. But how can this be fair to women?
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