"Trump and his allies were never interested in boosting women's sports. The Trump administration's purported commitment to female athletes occupies a rather narrow lane. It is a product of the meticulously structured and audience-tested rhetoric of the Save Women's Sports movement, a coordinated and well-funded right-wing campaign that marries women's sport with its perceived negation the threat of trans participation."
"On the right, female athletes are only significant in the shadow of the transgender menace. They are little more than useful pawns for a political project aimed not at advancing women's sport but purging transgender people from public life. Instead of concentrating on important matters such as funding for women's sports or celebrating the achievements of outstanding athletes, right-wing activists have used their political and social cache to advance a purely negative political project."
After Team USA won gold in both men's and women's ice hockey at the Winter Olympics, Trump invited the men's team to the State of the Union but joked about having to invite the women's team as well. This moment exposed the limitations of Trump's stated commitment to protecting women's sports opportunities. The right-wing's support for women's sports, framed through the Save Women's Sports movement, is primarily a coordinated political campaign targeting transgender participation rather than genuinely advancing female athletes. Female athletes serve as political tools in this agenda focused on exclusion rather than empowerment. Instead of celebrating the women's team's achievement or supporting substantive women's sports initiatives like funding, right-wing advocates use women's sports as a vehicle for their broader political project.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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