Charlie Martin and Connie Malone

 All of a sudden more "Sports and the Transgender Girl" has emerged. The first of which comes from across the pond and involves Charlie Martin (below) a veteran trans endurance racer from the United Kingdom. She uses her platform to promote LGBTQ issues as well as someday racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

The second part of the post regards a comment from Connie and her experience with her wife and sports:

"My wife has become quite the sports fan over the years. We spend more (quality) time watching sports than most anything else. Years ago, when she had had enough of my not-so-secret girlish ways, she left to stay with her sister for the weekend. Although she knew what I was doing, she had never seen me dressed, and it had gotten to the point where I had to show her my real self. It was a Sunday afternoon in December, and there was an NFL playoff game on TV when she came home. I emerged from the basement, where I had been spending so much time away from her in order to "be myself" - by myself. This was a big deal, I was thinking to myself, but my wife seemed more interested in the game than she was in the "pretty-me." We just sat together and watched the game until halftime before we had any real discussion. I also made a pitcher of Margaritas before halftime, and that helped, too! Oh, I might add that, after that day, I could also admit to her that I enjoyed watching figure skating with her, as well. :-)"

My deceased wife was quite the sports fan. Just not with me being my authentic self. Liz is also quite the sports fan. Of course she also accepts my true self. It all makes life so much easier and fun. I always remember going to a woman's roller derby event with three lesbians drinking dollar beers as one of my highlights in sports. 

Sports and the Transgender Woman

 Years ago, as I started my Mtf gender transition, I was very concerned about how much baggage I could bring with me from my intense male past. No matter how painful it was, I hid my feminine self well from family and friends. In fact, one of the few cis female friends I told about being transgender said I was the most unlikely person she knew to attempt a gender change. 

Of course, back in my "formative" years, gender norms were more rigidly structured. In the conservative rural Midwest I grew up in, the only real "sports" girls could participate in were cheerleading. Because I could not make it on the sidelines of a football game, I had to participate. I was a very mediocre defensive end and ended my high school "career" prematurely due to a couple broken bones. But, no one suspected I really wanted to be a cheerleader.

Perhaps it was all worth it to hide my gender misgivings. These days though, I find my love of sports has been a lifelong pursuit for me, no matter what gender I was living as. As I did transition, I found three close cis women friends who shared my fondness for sports. All three could sit at a bar drinking beer and watching sports as well as any man. 

So you could guess how great I felt when last night my childhood favorite baseball team finally clinched a spot in the Major League Baseball playoffs. In fact I cried tears of joy... *damn hormones"! And of course I am overjoyed The Ohio State Buckeyes" are due to start playing in a couple weeks. 

Once I got past the worn out gender stereotypes of women and sports, I was able to carry forward a great portion of my previous life. I did find out the hard way to never talk to a man about sports.

Gender Bake

 Most of us if we like it or not, are born into strict gender rules. Those of us who are transgender just happen to not fit into those gender norms. Of course, that is where our problems begin. If we are very lucky, we have accepting parents and we are able to communicate what the situation is.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of us transgender women and trans men never had a chance for acceptance until we finally decided to seize the moment later in life. The internet and social media has helped to educate the population but of course serious transgender problems still exist on so many levels of society.  Specifically within the trans women of color community with their extremely high and tragic murder rate. Plus I won't even get into employment issues.

In our own lives, we all decide to choose the path best suited to our needs. Two prime examples would be not being allowed to pursue hormone replacement therapy due to health concerns or deciding not to live a fulltime feminine existence because of a spouse or family. 

Per norm, Connie came up with an expanded comment on the Cyrsti's Condo "Shake and Bake" post:

 "Shake and Bake can mean so many different things. I like to play with words, and I like to play with you, too (word-wise, that is).

Actually, what I meant by "shake" was the acquired male persona that I needed to shake off to reveal my feminine-self. If you're familiar with baking - say, a cake - you know that using the right ingredients in their proper proportions is critical. Then, there is the temperature of the oven and the baking time.

Shaking the male facade was the difficult part for me. I had worked so hard to construct it: athlete, rock drummer, husband, father, grandfather. Over time, the athletic and rock drummer parts became less masculine-identified (although, both require a lot of sweating, which I'm not so fond of anymore). Changing from husband to spouse, and father and grandfather to parent and grandparent was still not without its own sweat.

I always possessed ingredients for a transition to womanhood. I can't say they were all "sugar and spice, and everything nice," but they have always been there. There was some experimentation necessary, in order to come up with the right recipe for me, but trial and error is how any of us must find ourselves. With the climate (temperature) just right, I was able to rise and "bake" into the woman I am today."

Although there are still some physical changes I'd like to see for myself, they would be but icing on the cake at this point. 

Thanks for the comment! In our house though, "Shake and Bake" normally meant chicken. Not a cake. To add insult to injury, my Mom was a high school home economics teacher and she rarely baked.