Another Transgender Paper at School, really need insight

[LatrellHK]

So at my school, I typically do reports and papers about transgender youth and people because, living in a small town, nobody knows much, if accurate even, things about that part of life. Don't get me wrong, I've done papers about Autism, ADD/ADHD, growing up in an older generation of a home, being a lesbian in a religious household, Fatherless/motherless lives, and many other things. But this one is one I love to do cause it really does educate people.

So it's a powerpoint/essay and I would like some insight.

Basically its about social issues. It's for sociology and I chose "Social Issues With Transgender Youth In Sports". Its really about high school sports, however. I would like some opinions and personal experiences with being trans and in sports, or attempting to do sports. I could add some of my own experiences, because of my issues with track this year and last year. I would like certain answers, as well as whatever else you wish to add:
What is your gender? (exactly what you call yourself)
What pronouns/name do you go by?
What sport did you (attempt to) participate in?
Does this sport have a separate female/male team for you to participate in?
Which team did you go on and why?
Which locker room/bathrooms do you use and why?
How were coaches towards you? How did they handle things?

If you were like me and were put on the team with your biological gender, like for me it was girls track, and wanted to be on the team for the opposite sex, can you answer these questions:
Why were you on that team?
Why couldn't you be on the other team?
Are you comfortable with the team?
Are your teammates comfortable?
Are you more comfortable with the other team? Are they more comfortable with you?
Where you made fun of, bullied, verbally/emotionally/physically hurt, or threatened?
How did coaches handle this?
How were coaches towards you?

Just whatever else you want to add you can. I just know I won't find many statistics on Google, as this is a new thing I'm always going over, but I want to know other peoples insight. And where else can I go but Susans?

[sam1234]

I think I can give you some answers, but be aware that this is from memory and a different time. I was in middle school through high school in the mid 70's to early'80s. It may give you a different spin on things though.
1) I am a male, though my chromosomes are xx

2) I consider myself male and use male pronouns. In school, I didn't realize there was such a thing as a transgender, so i tried to avoid using any kind of pronoun when referring to myself. If I was thinking of myself though, as one does when either fantasizing about activities or just thinking of daily life, I would think of myself as "he".

3) I didn't get involved in school sports because that would have meant locker rooms, showers with females, humiliation, but outside of school, I did participate in soccer and held a black belt in Karate. These were all pre-transition when I didn't know about transgenders. They let me act out the aggressive part of my personality in a setting where it was accepted though.

4)Unfortunately, I didn't have any choice in soccer, it was a girl's league as the boy's league did not accept females. In karate, it didn't matter. Both males and females of all ages were involved. I mainly sparred with the men though.

5) There wasn't a choice as far as locker rooms and bathrooms. At that time, People were very aware of gay and lesbian people, but there wasn't any knowledge that I could tell that even addressed transgenders. I made sure I used the bathroom when no one was around, and tried to disappear in the locker room. In college, I was post transitioned,  so I used male bathrooms.

6)Coaches in soccer liked my aggressive attitude, and in karate, being aggressive and strong was a definate plus and encouraged. After a while, during classes, the sensais (teachers), put me up against males for sparring practice because I was too aggressive for the females. I think I was trying to prove myself at that time, but still knew nothing of transgenders.

7) In soccer, there were only boys and girls teams. They didn't mix them, and there were no integrated teams where I was. In karate, there simply weren't teams. The closest thing to a team was in tournaments when different schools competed. During tournaments though, females were only allowed to spar females and males, males. The same held true for kata (coreeagraphed fights against imagined opponents). The katas I took many trophies in, but few in sparring because I was often thrown out for excessive contact.

Even though being strong and aggressive in both soccer and karate, I was still the brunt of some jokes. I don't think that either the coaches/sensais knew quite how to deal with me. I definately felt angry and out of place at having to stay on female teams and in female divisions during tournaments. It was a very difficult period of my life, but the day to day karate gave me some relief.

Its hard to compare what goes on now in sports, bathrooms and locker rooms for transgender people back in the late seventies as opposed to now. Not once did I hear the word transgender, and the only reference to changing gender came from others joking. If you wanted to insult someone, you would tell them their mother had a sex change in Switzerland. Even by the time i transitioned in '89, the social climate surrounding transgenders was just opening up in my area. The surgeon who did my phalloplasty had never done one before and had to do it through what he learned through consultations from Dr.s in other areas and text books. The fact that there was such a difference may not help you as much as answers from current people, especially those your age. I do hope it helped some though.

sam1234

[LatrellHK]

Im glad to get the insight from back in the day from you, no offense to your age. It really helps me with my past part. Thanks.

[CaitlinE]

Hi Latrell, I can pitch in for the next decade or so, early 80s into mid 90s.

1) What is your gender? (exactly what you call yourself)
Female.  XY chromosomes.

2) What pronouns/name do you go by?
I/me/my.    In the third person I've always been he/him/his.  I've not transitioned and am out only on a limited basis.  People see what they expect.

3) What sport did you (attempt to) participate in?
Football or, as the Americans call it, soccer.  Swimming.  Fencing.  Mountaineering.  Karate.

4) Does this sport have a separate female/male team for you to participate in?
Yes for first two.  The rest were co-ed.

5) Which team did you go on and why?
6) Which locker room/bathrooms do you use and why?
The male ones.  My experience was the same as Sam's; it wasn't even a question so it couldn't be a choice.  At the fencing studio there was only one bathroom so it was unisex.

7) How were coaches towards you? How did they handle things?
Oblivious as best I can recall, though that's unsurprising as this was a time in my life where I was very deeply stealth.

If you were like me and were put on the team with your biological gender, like for me it was girls track, and wanted to be on the team for the opposite sex, can you answer these questions:

8 ) Why were you on that team?
Football was a neighborhood thing where a bunch of parents got together and made up a team from their kids.  I'm not sure how I ended up on it, actually, but I didn't mind it.  Swim team was when I was bit older and practice was at a predominantly adult facility where I felt safer than I ever did at school.  Plus it got me out of taking physical education at school, meaning I didn't have change in the locker rooms there.  That was quite a relief.

I started fencing because a male cis friend invited me.  Stayed because I could hang with a number of cis female friends and the older guys there didn't care who or what you were so long as you were serious about weapons training.  The studio's fencing master was super nice and I really really liked my sabre instructor.  Older guy with the long hair I wanted who took me under his wing, gave me lessons, and let me borrow bits of equipment I couldn't afford.  Better than my real father, but that's another story.

Mountaineering was a similar escape.  I liked the land very much but the group was quite male.  Didn't enjoy that much, though I found some refuge by hanging with the responsible adults and the one cis girl who came.

Karate was for self defense.  I was also trying really hard for a while to have a hetero crush on the sensei but wasn't able to pull it off (I'm lesbian but have always kind of felt like I should like guys).

9) Why couldn't you be on the other team?
10) Are you comfortable with the team?
11) Are your teammates comfortable?
12) Are you more comfortable with the other team? Are they more comfortable with you?
Given being on the team of felt gender wasn't an option these don't really apply.  Swimming and fencing were the best as the groups had even numbers of both sexes to a slight majority of females.  So I had other girls to be around, if only implicitly.

13) Where you made fun of, bullied, verbally/emotionally/physically hurt, or threatened?
14) How did coaches handle this?
15) How were coaches towards you?
Yes, yes, yes/yes/yes, and yes.  However none of it happened in a sporting context so the coaches weren't involved.  I did quit karate as the sensei's behaviour became a bit cruel and I'd become physically afraid of him.  The fear was my hangups from childhood abuse and his cutting remarks didn't have anything to do with my being trans.

[sam1234]

No offense taken. Age is a state of mind.

sam1234