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Jon Pike vs. transgender people

Jon Pike is a British philosopher and anti-transgender activist. Pike is parent to a gender diverse child and gets money and attention producing anti-transgender research. Pike is a noted opponent of transgender athletes.

Background

Jonathan Edward “Jon” Pike was born on August 18, 1965 and grew up in Caterham, Surrey. Pike attended Caterham School there. Pike earned an undergraduate degree from Trinity College, Oxford in 1987 and earned a doctorate from University of Glasgow in 1996.

On July 12, 1997, Pike married Gillian “Gill” Ure, a marketing executive at University of Brighton. Pike dedicated the 2007 book Political Philosophy A–Z to Ure and child Imogen Pike. The family has been involved in competitive running at the Phoenix Athletic Club in Brighton.

Pike’s child Imogen’s pronouns are “she/they” according to a social media profile.

Since 1998 Pike has been a lecturer and tutor at The Open University UK.

Pike served as Chair of the British Philosophy of Sport Association.

Pike has advised sporting organizations including the World Anti-Doping Agency, World Rugby, British Triathlon, and the Sports Councils Equality Group.  

Anti-transgender activism

Pike is the convener of the Open University Gender Critical Research Network. one of the few explicitly anti-transgender organizations within higher education worldwide.

Pike is heavily involved in prohibiting transgender athletes, especially trans women, from participating in sex-segregated competitive sports.

References

Luzzi F (2024). On the justification for World Rugby’s ban on trans women: assessing key arguments in the debate. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport (pp. 1–19). https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2024.2404200

Pike, Jon (March 24, 2023). World Athletics trans ruling is a watershed moment. UnHerd https://unherd.com/thepost/world-athletics-trans-ruling-is-a-watershed-moment/

Pike, Jon (March 24, 2023). Fairness matters in sport. Sex Matters https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/fairness-matters-in-sport/

Pike, Jon (March 21, 2023). How world sport got into a mess over trans athletes – and how it can get out of it. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/how-world-sport-got-into-a-mess-over-trans-athletes-and-how-it-can-get-out-of-it-202188

Pike J (2023). Why ‘Meaningful Competition’ is not fair competition. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport (Vol. 50, Issue 1, pp. 1–17). Informa UK Limited. https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2023.2167720

Lundberg TR, Tucker R, McGawley K, Williams AG, Millet GP, Sandbakk Ø, Howatson G, Brown GA, Carlson LA, Chantler S, Chen MA, Heffernan SM, Heron N, Kirk C, Murphy MH, Pollock N, Pringle J, Richardson A, Santos‐Concejero J, Stebbings GK, Christiansen AV, Phillips SM, Devine C, Jones C, Pike J, Hilton EN (2024). The International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations does not protect fairness for female athletes. In Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (Vol. 34, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14581

Pike, Jon (December 8, 2022). Transgender Women Athletes and Elite Sport: Misleading at best, intellectually dishonest at worst. Macdonald-Laurier Institute https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/transgender-women-athletes-and-elite-sport-misleading-at-best-intellectually-dishonest-at-worst/ [PDF] https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221207_CCES_report_Pike_COMMENTARY_FWeb.pdf

Devine C, Hilton E, Howe LA, Imbrišević M, Lundberg T, Pike J (November 29, 2022). When Ideology Trumps Science: A response to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s Review on Transwomen Athletes in the Female Category. Idrottsforum [Sporting Forum, Malmö University] https://idrottsforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/devineetal221129.pdf

Devine, Cathy; Pike, Jon, Garvey Liam (July 5, 2022). Letters: Fina’s policy on trans women in swimming is based on science, facts and human rights. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/05/finas-policy-on-trans-women-in-swimming-is-based-on-science-facts-and-human-rights

Humphries, Stephen (March 16, 2022). In sports, what’s fair for transgender athletes and their competitors? Christian Science Monitor https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2022/0315/In-sports-what-s-fair-for-transgender-athletes-and-their-competitors

Burke M (2022). Trans women participation in sport: A feminist alternative to Pike’s position. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport (Vol. 49, Issue 2, pp. 212–229). https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2022.2043754

Pike, Jon; Hilton, Emma; Howe, Leslie A. (December 2021). Fair Game: Biology, Fairness, and Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sport. McDonald-Laurier Institute https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Dec2021_Faster_higher_stronger_Pike_Hilton_Howe_PAPER_FWeb.pdf

Pike, Jon (February 22, 2021). Why the World Rugby guidelines banning trans athletes from the women’s game are reasonable. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/why-the-world-rugby-guidelines-banning-trans-athletes-from-the-womens-game-are-reasonable-152178

Pike JE (2020). Safety, fairness, and inclusion: transgender athletes and the essence of Rugby. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 10.1080/00948705.2020.1863814

Pike, Jonathan E. (2007). Political Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 9780748622702

Pike, Jonathan E. (1999). From Aristotle to Marx: Aristotelianism in Marxist Social Ontology. Republished 2019 by Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780429766855

Staff report (July 4, 1996). Glasgow University. The Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12037095.glasgow-university/

Pike JE (1995) Marx, Aristotle and beyond : aspects of Aristotelianism in Marxist social ontology. Ph.D. thesis, University of Glasgow

Resources

The Open University (open.ac.uk)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/)

Instagram (instagram.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

World Triathlon (triathlon.org)

  • Jon Pike
  • triathlon.org/athletes/profile/75280/jon_pike

OCLC (oclc.org)