Maxine Blythin, the transgender cricketer who was recently named as Kent Women’s Player of the Year, has revealed she was shocked by the negative reaction towards her.
Blythin, who was born with a condition that meant she failed to go through male puberty as an adolescent because her testosterone levels were too low, won the award in late September without major fanfare. But when controversial columnist Katie Hopkins responded negatively on Twitter earlier this month, it sparked a raft of vitriol on social media against Blythin.
While the furore did not necessarily surprise Blythin, it was all the more shocking to her given the support she had received from friends, family and many in the cricket community.
“From obviously reading media stories you know that that kind of mentality is out there,” Blythin told Sky Sports. “There are people who just don’t like you because you’re different or you don’t fit into their 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 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.
“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.”
Blythin paid tribute to Kent captain and England opener Tammy Beaumont, who was quick to throw her support behind Blythin in a series of Tweets aimed at Hopkins, including one which said: “Personally I’m proud to call her my team-mate and my friend. So please attempt [sic] don’t speak for me or my ovaries.”
Blythin said she had spoken with Beaumont since to tell her how much she appreciated her support.
“Having someone who openly shows her support despite knowing what backlash you could get from it, from people who just don’t know anything about the story, anything about biology, anything about who I am or what I’m doing, is very brave of Tammy and something I appreciate a lot,” Blythin said.
| What a season she’s had!
Your 2019 Kent Women Player of the Year is…. Maxine Blythin!#OnlyTheOrses #SuperKent pic.twitter.com/TRXWZ7NLTU
— Kent Cricket (@KentCricket) September 27, 2019
The story did raise more nuanced debate surrounding possible physical advantages Blythin may possess over other women competing with or against her, especially that she is more than six feet tall. As an opening batsman, she helped Kent win the Women’s County Championship this year, finishing her debut season as the county’s third-highest run scorer.
Asked whether she had any physical attributes which might prove to be an advantage, Blythin said: “Nothing particularly, only the differences you get in humans in general.
“There are girls in my team who are a lot stronger than I am, there are girls with longer arm spans than I do, girls with bigger hands than I do, just in my own team, never mind the teams I play with or against. I’ve just got some naturally good bits, ie. tall is beneficial for some things, but I’ve got very thin arms.
“In my family I’m not considered abnormal. I’ve got a tall dad, a tall mum. I’m quite normal sized for my family. My sister is pretty tall as well.”
While the ECB’s playing regulations allow Blythin to play women’s cricket simply by identifying as transgender, she would have to meet the ICC’s more rigorous standards if she were ever selected to play for England, which includes a limit on testosterone levels. However, she said she would welcome the opportunity if it came along.
“If I was invited to, it would be the biggest privilege of my life,” she said. “Speaking to people who have played at that level, even if it’s just for one game, it’s one of the biggest occasions of their sporting lives. I’d 100 percent say yes. I’m not expecting it but I would say yes.”
Blythin also has a condition called gender dysphoria, where a person experiences discomfort or distress because their biological sex does not equate with their gender identity and she remembers feeling that way “before I can remember other memories”.
“The first thing I can remember as a kid is thinking that way,” Blythin said. Throughout my adolescence, my childhood, I always had that feeling of being different but without the way to articulate, without the knowledge to know where I stood.
“Back then, parents weren’t given that kind of information, that kind of story was not easily accessible. You didn’t have trans role models, you didn’t have anything like that, so being able to articulate who you are was not easy.”
Describing her experience of gender dysphoria, Blythin told Sky: “It’s a feeling of disgust, a really hurtful feeling … my best way is to ask what makes a man. If you come back and tell me it’s what’s in your trousers, you’ve not grasped what being a man is.
“You have to look inside yourself and really think. Now, imagine you’re a man in a woman’s body – but you’re still thinking about what makes you who you are. To then have that body stare back at you in the mirror… that’s the easiest way to explain it.”
Asked to describe herself, Blythin said: “A woman, simple as. I always have felt that way, I’ve always wanted to articulate it as such.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo