Times being the way they are, if a female athlete these days objects to being forced to play with men, she can actually be professionally harmed for it.
And that's exactly what's happening in the World Darts Federation.
Female darts players have been threatened with disciplinary action if they refuse to play transgender opponents.
Almost four months after a British female player forfeited a match against a trans woman at a World Darts Federation [WDF] event, the governing body has begun a controversial crackdown on such protests.
According to the WDF, once a match has begun, "any player that subsequently withdraws from playing a match may be considered to be bringing the game into disrepute and could face disciplinary action."
(As an aside: It's pretty amazing that a sports organization is complaining about "bringing the game into disrepute" when they're forcing women to compete against men.)
The rule is meant to "protect our member countries, their tournaments and tournament sponsors, as well as to preserve the integrity of the WDF ranking system."
AGAIN:
Pro tip, guys: If you're requiring your female athletes to compete against men, you have no integrity left to speak of.
Professional darter Deta Hedman thinks the rule is targeted at her, and she may not be wrong; she sort of launched this whole righteous backlash earlier this year:
As one advocate put it:
As if it's not bad enough that women face unfairness, they're being forced to play or lose their future chances as well. They lose twice over. It shouldn't be left to women to take a stand, but if they do, they will be punished.
