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There is a deep irony to Martina Navratilova's claim in this week's Sunday Times that trans women athletes are "cheats".
Navratilova's article reiterates longstanding claims that trans women (who were assigned male at birth) have a physical advantage over "innocent" cisgender women (who were assigned female at birth).
But Navratilova herself proved trans players are not unbeatable in women's tennis when she beat the first professional trans tennis player, Renee Richards, more than 40 years ago.
The issue of trans tennis players goes back to September, 1976, when Margaret Court turned down a $1 million offer to play against Richards.
In a brief statement, Court's lawyer remarked: "It's exploitation for somebody and Margaret isn't about to be exploited or let somebody else be exploited at her behest."
The reason for the huge dollar amount attached to an exhibition match — and the reason Court declined the proposition — was because Richards was transgender.
Richards had transitioned in 1975 and was outed in August, 1976 after she won a tennis tournament in California.
She made global news and even had an Australian connection: one of her mixed doubles partners was from Melbourne.
Much of the media reporting reflected the era's prejudices against transgender people, with Australian headlines like, "Miss X or Mr Y?" and, "I'm not a zombie, says Renee".
One article began: "Renee Richards proved today that a good big man can probably always beat a good little girl at tennis."
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) barred Richards from entering the US Open in 1976.
In 1977 she sued the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and USTA for discrimination.
Richards won, allowing her to compete as a woman on the professional circuit.
Testosterone levels an imperfect measure of physical ability
The Renee Richards case shows there is a long history of transgender people in sport, and controversy has followed them wherever they go.
It is especially in recent years that they have courted attention, as transgender rights have become a matter of public discussion.
Conservative politicians in Australia even used fears about trans women in sport to discredit an entire 1997 Senate Inquiry into Sexuality Discrimination and to derail proposed anti-discrimination legislation to protect LGBT people.
Transgender athletes from Richards to AFLW player Hannah Mouncey have regularly argued that hormones alter the body, including reducing muscle density.
Only recently have scientists begun to research whether transgender people have a physical advantage in women's sport (note that rarely do debates mention trans men in sport).
Scientific studies show that testosterone levels are an operative, albeit still imperfect, measure of trans women's physical ability.
International sporting bodies like the International Olympic Committee and International Association of Athletics Federations, as well as Australian associations like the AFL, have been drawing on this emerging research to formulate policies about transgender participation.
The rules have courted controversy, highlighting the need for further research.
Transgender people who transition are the survivors
Yet, there is a deeper set of myths about trans women contained within Navratilova's argument.
"A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires," she wrote.
Transgender people do not take the decision to transition gender lightly.
I have interviewed dozens of transgender and gender-diverse people for my historical research and many of them say their lives reached a choice: either transition or suicide.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
Indeed, the National LGBTI Health Alliance reports that over 40 per cent of transgender Australians over 18 years old have experienced suicidal ideation or self-harm.
Transgender Australians are more than 11 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population.
I often say that the transgender people who have transitioned are the survivors. Transitioning gender represents a complete rupture in someone's life.
Transgender people risk losing family and friends. Society stigmatises trans people, with regular reports of hate crimes, abuse on public transport and globally high rates of violence and murder.
The process of changing identity documents can be tedious.
Transgender people also need to learn the social cues associated with their affirmed gender.
The idea that someone would put themselves through such mental distress, stigma and medical interventions for a supposed advantage at sporting tournaments — which incidentally they still might not win — shows a complete lack of empathy or understanding of what transgender people confront in their lives.
As one psychiatrist testified before an Australian Senate hearing in 1996:
"It is not something that people can choose — 'I think I will be a man today' or 'I think I will be a woman tomorrow' — that sort of thing … the urge to change one's gender has to be extremely strong, otherwise no-one would do it."
As for Richards, the court ruling allowed her to play tennis on the professional tour, and she did so until retiring in 1981.
She made the women's doubles final in her debut US Open in 1977, but lost to a player whom she would later coach: Martina Navratilova.
Dr Noah Riseman is an Associate Professor in History at Australian Catholic University.
Topics: sexuality, tennis, sport, community-and-society, human-interest, australia, united-states
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