Veronica Ivy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Veronica Ivy (born 1982), formerly Rachel McKinnon, is a Canadian competitive
cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
and
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
rights activist. In 2018, she became the first transgender world track cycling champion by placing first at the UCI Women's Masters Track World Championship for the women's 35–44 age bracket.


Early life and education

Ivy is from
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
. She earned a bachelors of arts degree in
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from the
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
(2005) and completed her PhD from
University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...
in Philosophy in 2012,Rachel McKinnon
', ''The Conversation''.
with a thesis entitled "Reasonable Assertions: On Norms of Assertion and Why You Don't Need to Know What You're Talking About". Ivy has said she first began thinking she might be transgender when she was thirteen, but took sixteen more years to "come to terms with it". She started transitioning near the time she was finishing her doctorate, and came out "two days after I defended my dissertation."Fred Dreier,
Q&A: Dr. Rachel McKinnon, masters track champion and transgender athlete
, ''VeloNews'' (15 October 2018).
She wrote to her students to tell them that she was transgender on 2 May 2012. Ivy was an associate professor of philosophy at the
College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th-oldest institution of higher lea ...
in
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. She earned tenure in March 2019, and became an associate professor in August the same year. Ivy's primary research focus is the philosophy of language. The majority of her published work is about the norms of the
speech act In the philosophy of language and linguistics, a speech act is something expressed by an individual that not only presents information but performs an action as well. For example, the phrase "I would like the mashed potatoes; could you please pas ...
of assertion, pre-eminently her 2015 monograph ''The Norms of Assertion: Truth, Lies, and Warrant'' (Palgrave Macmillan, ). Another focus of her work is
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and
feminist philosophy Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. Feminist philosophy involves both reinterpreting philosophical texts and methods in ...
, particularly issues relating to gender and
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
identities.


Media career

Ivy has written articles on transgender and
intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...
issues for outlets including ''
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
'', ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
'', and ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
''.


Athletic career

Prior to moving to the College of Charleston, Ivy played
badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
. Lacking a strong badminton scene at Charleston, Ivy developed an interest in sport cycling. On 12 October 2018, she won the world 200-meter sprint record for women in the 35–39 age range, and the next day won the UCI Masters World Track Cycling Championship in the Women's Sprint 35–44 age bracket, becoming the first transgender world champion in track cycling. Some in the sports world expressed their belief that her birth sex gave her an unfair advantage. American cyclist Jennifer Wagner, who finished third (bronze), said Ivy's birth sex gave her
physiological Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
advantages. The second-place (silver-medal) winner, Dutch athlete Caroline van Herrikhuyzen, supported Ivy. Ivy argued that there was no evidence that being born male gave an advantage in the race and that she had lost to Wagner in the past. British columnist Katie Hopkins wrote that the decision to allow Ivy to compete was evidence that "the world is gripped by a febrile madness". Tennis player
Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...
said that allowing people born male to compete in women's sports was "insane" and "cheating". Ivy criticized Navrátilová's comments as
transphobic Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social ...
. Ivy cited one of the fundamental rules of the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
that the practice of sport is a human right. Her participation in the competition was consistent with rules in force since 2003. Some commentators felt that Ivy had an advantage because of her size and muscle mass. Ivy objected to this criticism: she must keep her
testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...
level low as a prerequisite for her participation in sports competitions.


2019 cycling time trial

In an October 2019 time trial, Ivy broke the record for the 200-meter sprint for females aged 34–39. In response, she received a number of death threats, and was targeted on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr. In December 2019, she wrote an op-ed in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' about this experience. Ivy changed her name from Rachel McKinnon with an announcement on Twitter on December 4, 2019


Controversy

In August 2019, in relation to the death of American billionaire David Koch, Ivy tweeted that "it's okay to be happy, even celebrate, when bad people die". A respondent, believing Ivy to be alluding to the terminal illness of Magdalen Berns, asked if Ivy "thought it was OK to celebrate the death of a young person suffering from an incurable brain tumor" (quoting the account of the Charleston ''
The Post and Courier ''The Post and Courier'' is the main daily newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the ''Charleston Courier'', founded in 1803, the ''Charleston Daily News'', founded 1865, and ''The Evening Post'', f ...
''). Ivy replied: "if they're a trash human actively trying to harm marginalized people because of who they are? I think it's justified". The exchange provoked a petition by over 500 signatories seeking Ivy's public apology.Colleen Flaherty,
College Supports Trans Scholar Under Fire
, ''Inside Higher Ed'' (3 September 2019).


References


External links


Academia.edu page
*McKinnon, Rachel
Reasonable Assertions: On Norms of Assertion and Why You Don't Need to Know What You're Talking About
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivy, Veronica 1982 births 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian cyclists Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian LGBTQ academics Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Canadian transgender women Canadian transgender sportspeople Canadian transgender writers Canadian women philosophers College of Charleston faculty LGBTQ cyclists LGBTQ philosophers LGBTQ YouTubers Living people Transgender academics Transgender rights activists Transgender sportswomen Transgender women writers YouTubers from British Columbia