TLDR: reducing fairness concerns may increase support for trans inclusion, particularly among trans-negative individuals. But it's not a clean solution, and support remains pretty lukewarm overall (as my follow-up work shows).
Glad it's out right as the Winter Olympics wrap up 🤙 (6/6)
That suggests some heterogeneity in how the public thinks about trans inclusion. Even people with negative attitudes aren't monolithic; context (specifically, perceived fair play threat) shapes their views. The catch: in most sports trans inclusion is likely seen as a grave threat to fair play (5/6)
Consistent with the literature, people supported trans inclusion in shooting more than in steeplechase.
But here's the more interesting bit: this gap held even among trans-negative respondents — they were *also* more supportive when perceived fairness concerns were lower. (4/6)
Some sports ethicists argue that certain sports are more prone to fairness concerns than others (think sprinting vs. equestrian).
Using a survey experiment, I compared support for trans inclusion in steeplechase vs. rifle shooting as proxies for high vs. low fair-play threat. (3/6)
Opponents of trans inclusion in sports often invoke fairness and possible "competitive advantage" as their main concern. But do all sports raise the same fairness worries equally? Probably not. That's what I set out to test. (2/6)
My first dissertation paper is out in Sexuality Research and Social Policy — open access! 🎉 It's about trans inclusion in sports and what fairness concerns actually do to public support.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Short thread below 👇
👀 anybody interested in co-chairing smth on trans rights with me? promise i have experience in chairing for the ecpg 💅🏻
Thus ends another #ISPP2025. As usual, a great conference - really interesting work and wonderful people. Thanks to the organisers and thanks to my fellow session panel @mjbalezina.bsky.social, Melissa Vega and Anna Wlodarczyk. See you next year in Newcastle!
For queer people this needs to be a lesson about how incredibly fragile the state of seeming mainstream approval and assimilation is. "Just wanting to be normal" will never create power, will never deliver security. The answer is community care, support, empowerment. This is what Pride is about.
🚨NEW ARTICLE ALERT🚨
@zeinmurib.bsky.social has analysed US state-level legislative debates over trans healthcare in 2023 to show that pseudoscience fuels anti-trans mobilization 🏳️⚧️✊
It's ✨FREE ACCESS✨
📖 doi.org/10.1332/2515...
Speaking on trans exclusion in sports (Title IX & Trump’s EO in particular) feels especially urgent right now, given recent developments at UPenn regarding Lia Thomas.
I’ll be presenting my pre-registration tomorrow at #ISPP2025, 8:30 AM, Thursday in RB209.
Slides/snippets below.
• UPenn will restore to female athletes all individual UPenn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories; • UPenn will issue a public statement to the University community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that UPenn will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy Penn Athletics female intimate facilities; • The statement will specify that UPenn will adopt biology-based definitions for the words 'male' and 'female' pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump's Executive Orders "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism" and "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports"; • UPenn will post the statement in a prominent location on its main website and on each of its websites for women's athletics; • UPenn will rescind any guidance which violated Title IX, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX, and notify all staff and women's athletics of all such rescissions; and • UPenn will send a personalized letter of apology to each impacted female swimmer.
BREAKING
The University of Pennsylvania has come to an agreement with the Trump administration on what the Department of Education said was its Title IX violations.
This will include stripping trans athlete Lia Thomas of her records, titles, and recognitions.
P.S. If you're also headed to ISPP in Prague in literally two (??) days — pls hit me up 🙏🏻 I need company for checking out all the cool spots around town 👟🍺🍜
⭐️ That’s a wrap on EPSA in Madrid 😌
Had an absolute blast (and not just because of the good cerveza and coldbrews)! To old and new connections alike: hope to see y’all in Belfast for EPSS @epssnet.bsky.social 🇪🇸➡️🇬🇧
(And if I’m not there… blame the UK visa regs 🫠)
Mentally bracing for the Madrid heat ☀️ but also hyped to be part of a 🔥banging🔥 panel organized by @fraraffaelli.bsky.social, with @bertous.bsky.social as a discussant. Come see me talk about trans inclusion on Saturday or catch me downing iced coffee around #EPSA2025 in the days before 👀
BREAKING: In a 6-3 Roberts decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that Tennessee's ban on gender affirming care is not subject to heightened scrutiny. This decision will strip millions of trans people off their constitutional rights.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
omg congrats!! 🎉
This is great!! @polcomm.bsky.social is launching a database for polcom teaching resources! #ica25
For everyone interested in working with computational tools, this is an amazing Postdoc position at the Political Science Department in Aarhus
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.
🚨 Very happy to have a new study out in @bjpols.bsky.social with @kristinabsimonsen.bsky.social
We research across 8 countries what drives parties to use moral rhetoric in their communication:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
🚨 #Data alert 📣 We just released #ParlLawSpeech – full texts of more than 40k bills, 28k laws, and 3 mio. parliamentary speeches from 7 countries (AT, CZ, DE, DK, ES, HR, HU) and the EU! If you study democracy with #TextAsData / #NLP methods, this is for you! A short 🧵 (1/3) #PoliSkyData #polisky
As much as I love AU and Aarhus, I look forward to my three-month research stay with the CEU Pol Sci department (DSPS) starting today! Feels good to be back 😌
hey gendersky polisky, @maryanab.bsky.social and I want to put together a QTA/text-as-data panel for #ecpg2024 methods section 🤓 if you apply methods like these to gender-related topics, or know someone who does, please reach out to us!
the deadline is Dec 7 ✅
Amazing work by @myleswilliamson.bsky.social introducing a new Trans Rights Indicator Project (TRIP) on @PoPPiblicsphere
#GenderSky #Polisky