Maxine Blythin is a transgender cricketer, who was recently awarded with Kent club’s ‘Woman player of the year award’ after ending the season as the third-highest run-getter in the county championships, this being her debut season. Her contribution on the field has been commendable but a run on social media has been a let down to her, the small mentality and backlashing negativity on who she is, this mentality is a thing to pity about.
Katie Hopkin, a British columnist’s tweet about Maxine’s inclusion in women’s cricket resulted in Maxine receiving hateful comments which led to a furious debate on the platform. The tweet was eventually removed as it violated guidelines. In an interview with a British sports channel, she opened up about her life and the events after the acknowledgment. “From my perspective, I was born with a condition that meant I had no real levels of testosterone, which meant I never went through any form of male puberty. That means I am eligible to play women’s sport at any level, in any sport. Naturally so, the debate that has been going around doesn’t actually apply to myself”
Maxine did seek medical intervention to help with levels of estrogen to go through female puberty as “female puberty was in line with what works for me,” she said. She revealed that she was shocked to see the backlash over her playing in the women’s county championship. “From obviously reading media stories you know that that kind of mentality is out there,” Maxine said, adding “There are people who just don’t like you because you’re different or you don’t fit into the binary norms that they see.
“You get a lot of hate mail, some more extreme than others. It’s probably the hardest thing, I think, for someone like me to experience because it’s someone saying, ‘you are not valid, I get to decide who you are, not you’, without any understanding of the biology behind it, the science behind it, and just in general how your brain works.”
Maxine has received support from her family, teammates, the cricketing circle and says that throughout her life she had no problems or issues with her identity. “My friends have all been accepting. My family, with some time, were very accepting. At work, I’ve never had any issues, on the sporting field, not a single comment, no issues. In just general life, going to the shops, going anywhere, not a single issue at any stage. I’ve just been living my life being a normal human, going to work, going to the shops, paying taxes.”
Source: Herstory
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