When I was only 8 years old in the early 90’s I was told by my father, a single father with full custody of my brother and me, that I shouldn’t be mad that my brother got to play baseball in the fall but not me because there was no girls fall softball league. My response was, “well can I play baseball.” Not wanting me to grow up thinking girls are inferior to boys, his response was “let’s find out.”

Before I knew it, I was the only girl on a boys’ baseball team. Some of the boys, though double my size, were great and accepting. I could carry my own- sort of- because I wouldn’t swing at a ball and it was so hard for the boys to pitch a strike with my short, girl strike zone. However, since I could not throw the ball a as far as the boots, I was sent to the outfield more often than not and the coach would blatantly comment that he hoped no one would hit the ball to me out there or that if someone did, I needed to back up the other outfielder when possible so he could throw the ball in. Though I was happy to be on the team, it was hard because I knew the overall consensus.

My coach did NOT want me there and neither did some of the boys on the team never mind the other parents. They weren’t vocal, at least, but knowing how my coach felt made me wonder when he would make comments like “How did our team get the girl.” On other occasions, I would also find certain team members had filled my batting gloves with dirt. It was challenging and boy was I happy when the next fall came and I didn’t have to go back to baseball! Though the behavior I experienced of my coach and teammates seemed to have faded in my memories as I got older, by the time I got to high school and even more by college, I remember thinking that it sucked that I had to live that experience but maybe for girls of the future, it wasn’t for nothing.

How incredibly disappointing and discouraging my assumptions were! As the wife of a disc golf pioneer - someone who installed two disc golf courses across +60 acres of land to let people come play and grow the sport- especially for women - over the past 27 years and as the parents of a girl who is just a few years shy of what I was when I had no choice of sports to play with girls in the fall, I was hoping my past would be in the past! I was hoping that future generations of female athletes would never have to experience the sexism I did at the ripe age of 8! Sadly it now seems worse!

Today, even when backing one’s feelings with scientific data on how male bodies have physical advantages over female bodies, it’s forbidden to say anything out loud about how they should not be allowed to compete in divisions carved out for women in girls. If you say anything the response is almost always a straw man argument “if you don’t want male bodies in sports you want to erase trans existence”’ is the most common rebuttal. No buddy, I’m very much realizing the existence of trans people, that’s why I believe there should be rules against allowing these people to compete against cis female people! Or it’s DARVO, bully attacks! DENY they have an advantage, ATTACK the people speaking out against them, and REVERSE the VICTIM (females being beat in sport by male bodied competitors) with the OFFENDERS (male bodies who want to pass as women in sports). Another angle of attack is to say “there are so few trans players why does it matter” well why don’t we just ask Mark McGuire that? So few people were caught using steroids, why did it matter to his records?

It’s so incredibly disturbing in an age where there is so much instant access to peer-reviewed science and data that so few people will use it to base their opinions - no matter how unfair and blatantly sexist their opinions are.

- Tiffany

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Letters From the Front is a series from WoLF curating stories from women about how “gender identity” ideology has impacted them. We’ll share new letters, submitted anonymously, each week. Write in to share your own story!

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