Who should play sports, dear Martina Navratilova?

Dear Martina Navratilova:

I follow you on twitter and very often agree with you. For the most part, I find you socially progressive and engaging, and I find your posts to be sharp and refreshing. However, it seems to me that you have taken a less egalitarian view on who should play sports by denouncing the participation of transgender people. 

I love you, but I beg to differ.

For context, although I am athletic, sports is not my entire life. I can think of a million and one things more important than letting or preventing (or inspecting the genitals of) someone who really wants to play sports. 

To me, it's just a game, so let everyone who wants to have a go--why not?

I realize that sports is your whole life and your whole world, so thanks in advance for hearing me out if in fact you choose to.

The bottom line is this: being transgender is not an automatic advantage in sports. 

My namesake, Dot Calm, was a teeny tiny little lady, and when she was a kid, she ran faster than every other kid in the class. Boy or girl, tall or short, teeny tiny little Dot Calm could leave them in the dust. So why wasn't she an Olympic gold medal sprinter? Because she absolutely hated sports, sweating, running--all of it. These days, the family has a not-yet-transitioned transgender lady friend who can't run nearly as fast as Dot Calm's daughter, despite being nearly a foot taller and quite muscular compared to the daughter--who even as an adult is often mistaken for being a little kid because of her size and build. In short, Dot Calm's family has a genetic advantage for sports generally and for running specifically, but they all pursued careers as highly educated professionals--as did the transgender lady who's friends with the daughter. So please understand that there's a lot more to sports than just height and muscle mass.

I personally am on the autism spectrum. Like Dot Calm's family, I too am small and slight compared to the national average. I use my size--or lack thereof--to my advantage: I am QUICK. I have preternaturally fast reflexes and proprioception that extends beyond and below what I can see. I also have the ability to hyperfocus for long periods of time without perceiving potential distractions. So should autistic people like me who have natural advantages also be banned from sports? 

Dear Martina Navratilova, who should play sports?

Should we ban everyone with a natural advantage of some sort--like muscle mass or amazing reflexes or genius intellect or hyperfocus--from playing sports?

Should we just ban everyone whom you personally happen not to understand and therefore to fear?

Should we measure everyone who wants to play sports against national and world averages and just ban those who fall outside the 25% mark? The 10% mark? The 5% mark?

Should only "normies" play sports?

I'm old enough to remember when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs, who was born male with a biological male's muscle mass, in tennis. She was 29, and he was 55, as I recall. So was that match unfair because she was so much younger than he was--should we only let people play who are within 5 years of age of each other? 1 year?

Please, dear Ms. Navratilova, take a step back, and take a deep breath.

I know sports is important to you, but please remember: it's just a game.

Really.

Literally.

Remember, there are far more autistic people in the world than transgender people. So please--let everyone who wants to play sports play to the best of their ability instead of looking for new people to marginalize and new ways to isolate, denounce, and condemn those who are already isolated and marginalized.

Let's use sports to build community and acceptance of marginalized people.

Thanks for listening!

- Dot Calm's shadow