A friend on Facebook likes to re-post A Mighty Girl and I was really struck by the story of Kathrine Switzer as an example of what's at stake for women's sport. I didn't know the story. Apologies in advance if it's well-known.
The post says "Kathrine Switzer’s experience is a revealing illustration of the barriers that trailblazing women athletes had to overcome and of how far girls and women in sports have come in only a few decades. Switzer was a 20-year-old college student at Syracuse University in 1967 when she registered for the race using her initials, K.V. Switzer. Not realizing that she was a woman, who were barred from participating in the Boston Marathon for over 70 years, race officials issued her an entry number.
"During the race, marathon official Jock Semple attempted to physically remove Switzer from the marathon after discovering she was female. Other runners, including Switzer’s boyfriend Tom Miller, blocked Semple and she was able to complete the marathon."
She was physically assaulted for entering the race as a woman.
This is how hard we had to fight.
And now we just have to step aside for male-bodied people.
And if one of the competitors in the 1966 marathon undergoes transition, she won't even be the first woman any more - if I've understood correctly that Bruce Jenner's wins are now recorded as being achieved by Caitlyn, because deadnaming is rude.