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He Shoots, She Scores

When Mike became Christine, she gave Los Angeles sports fans a courtside view of gender politics

By John Ireland

For all of its trappings of money, fame, and corruption, professional sports has a lot to do with character. Avid sports fans seem to respect those who face up to overwhelming challenge and overcome adversity. So it should not come as a surprise that readers rose in solidarity when a 23-year veteran sports writer announced in the Los Angeles Times… return to article

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    Page 1 of 1 pages

    Gender transforming surgery is, to me, fascinating. It certainly brings up a number of issues:

    If married, does the marriage become void (well, except in Mass)? Teaching your spouse to like your new genitals must be an interesting endeavor, to say the least.

    Does one lose the ability to orgasm as a result of such surgeries? Does it matter if it is male to female or vice versa?

    I suppose in cases like this (male to female) Bobby *really* might have two mommies.

    While i could not care less what gender a reporter (sports or otherwise) might be, i cannot imagine i would ever date a women who used to have a penis. . .  But hopefully s/he can find someone to build a life with and end up happy.

    United States Posted by wolf on Jun 27, 2007 at 7:51 AM

    John:  In your article, you omitted another M-F in the sports world who caught the public eye in the ‘70’s with a book and SRS.

    Richard Raskin became Renee Richards in 1975. He was a middlin’ tennis player who had played on the male circuit, and then for a short time on the women’s circuit. I think she is retired now, both from tennis and optometry.

    I remember in the ‘80’s going to her office for an eye exam, on the recommendation of a friend in the neighborhood who knew but didn’t tell me of her being a “volunteer girl.” I sat across from her, literally eye to eye, and there was no question that she was a woman. A capable, professional woman, who vaguely reminded me of Colleen Dewhurst.  I continued with her until she eventually closed her office.

    United States Posted by GillianB on Jul 4, 2007 at 2:40 PM

    Whoops!  I just read page 2 of the article. My bad.  :-(
    <*G*>

    United States Posted by GillianB on Jul 4, 2007 at 2:42 PM

    It’s nice to see the fear of the transsexual ϋberfrau finally being tempered with common sense and precedence. 

    If transsexual female atheletes were so much better than natural women then all women’s sports would be dominated by transsexuals.  Marianne Bagger wouldn’t just be competitive, she’d win every event by 12 strokes.  Where’s the great transsexual marathoner, tennis player, golfer, vollyball queen?  The only competitions I can actually remember hearing transsexual women win are beauty pageants.  And in those cases (I think I’ve heard of two) the crowns were taken away.  Go figure.  I guess being born male gave them an unfair advantage at being a beautiful woman.

    Wouldn’t it be unfair to Bagger, who is merely competitive and hardly dominant, to say she’s only good because she was born a man?  Maybe if she had been born a woman and hadn’t had to undergo drastic surgery, she would be better.

    United States Posted by CornChip on Jul 11, 2007 at 10:53 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

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