Recently, Martina Navratilova spoke out about the controversial topic of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Her words were a direct reaction to what Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said.
Navratilova didn’t agree with what the AOC said about what might happen if biological guys aren’t allowed to play female sports.
In response to AOC’s comments, Navratilova wrote in a tweet:
“AOC claims ‘all’ underage women will face ‘genital examinations’ if biological men barred from female sports – I wish @AOC would educate herself a bit more before making these ridiculous assertions – this is complete rubbish and out and out lie.”
AOC said that not letting transgender women play sports for women could lead to girls young being sex with strangers. She talked about:
“We are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underaged, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, I don’t think you are a girl.”
AOC was also worried about the bigger effects in America after Dobbs, where states are making it harder for women to get abortions and collecting information about their periods. Her concerns about the morality and sense of these ideas were sparked, especially since they could have an effect on privacy and the bodies of all women, trans or straight.
Martina Navratilova has been very open about wanting to make sure that women are treated fairly in sports. She has said that she doesn’t think the problem is about transgender rights in the workplace, which she fully supports, but about making sure that women’s sports are fair.
Navratilova thinks that athletes who are biologically male, even if they say they are female, have physical benefits that can be unfair in competitions for women. In a recent episode of the show On with Kara Swisher, she said:
“It has been proven even when you do take those testosterone blockers or hormone therapy, even after 15 years, male bodies still retain physical advantage over women athletes.”
Navratilova’s position is all about making sure that women players have the same opportunities as men.
When Martina Navratilova came out in 1981, it had a big effect on her finances. Navratilova talked about her journey on Kara Swisher’s show. She is known for having an amazing tennis career and has won 59 titles, including 18 major singles titles. She said that letting the world know that she was bisexual hurt her popularity, especially in the U.S., which led to a big drop in advertising deals.
Martina Navratilova decided to tell the world that she was bisexual soon after she became a citizen of the United States. At that time, society had a strong bias against LGBTQ+ people and often ignored them because of it. Although she didn’t get flat-out turned down by companies, she did notice that they didn’t want to work with her.
“No one said yes or no, but no one said yes either.” “To be honest, I don’t know how much money I lost by being out, but it was in the millions,” she said on the show.
When Martina Navratilova played in Japan, she got some sponsorship deals. But when she came to the US, her director told her that her name would make the whole room quiet.
“I made deals in Japan but not in the US.” There were no ads that you saw. My agent at the time told me, “You know, whenever I’m in a meeting on Madison Avenue, there are always advertisers there. If you change the names, the people get excited.” The room is silent when I say your name.'”
Navratilova was also afraid that coming out would hurt the funding of women’s tennis. There was reason to be afraid, as Avon, who was her sponsor at the time, finally pulled out of tennis after she told everyone about it.
