Believe it or not prior to reading this article I had no clue of who Renee Richards was or how she had any relevance to this class or sport at all. In the article “Regrets, She’s had a Few” by Cindy Shmerier I learned a lot about her background and how she has affected the sports world. Sex reassignment is probably much more common now, however in 1975 it was a major issue especially since Richard Raskind, M.D., was so successful. Raskind who graduated from Yale and attend medical school at the University of Rochester, served in the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, and was a very successful tennis player in his own right.
Renee Richards on the other hand actually decided to play professional tennis on the woman’s tour, and of course I can see why this was an issue for the women on the tour. Having to compete with a player that use to be a man and had previously competed with males isn’t a fair situation. Nonetheless Richards took her argument all the way to the Supreme Court and she was granted the opportunity to compete as a woman on the women’s tour. I don’t agree with this at all, if the WNBA found that one of their players was formerly a man and had a sex reassignment operation I think they would banish the player indefinitely. It’s just unfair for a female to compete in professional sports after being a male for 35 years. I think the U.S. Supreme Court made a major mistake in allowing Renee Richards to compete on the women’s tour. Yes, it is ok for a woman to compete in men’s professional sport because the general consensus is the competition is bigger, faster, stronger, and more athletic, on the other hand as for men to drop down a play in a women’s league for whatever reason is unacceptable.
1 comment:
You have certainly captured many of the arguments surrounding the debate about whether Renee Richards should be able to play on the Professional Women's Tennis tour. However, I believe this issue may potentially become even more complex in the years ahead, as suggested by the in-class presentation by Jamar King. As he suggested, it is not only transsexuals, but also transgendered athletes who need to be considered. Think about what your argument suggests when you say that there is no way that a person who has been a man for 35 years should be able to play against women. Never? What if some of the differences stem from environment, and not just biological differences?
Post a Comment