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Very sorry! One of us (Kathleen, if you must know) inadvertently forgot to switch comments on for yesterday’s episode - now fixed.
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K and J xx
Mad love 4 the Lesbian Project Podcast but correction: Lesbians are not overrepresented in sport b/c of high testosterone, Kathleen. Having written about women in sports since 1980, I can assure you it's cultural. Historically, straight women have avoided "masculine" sports & "too big" muscles due to male censure. Lesbians, less in need of male approval, have been and still are freer in this way.
Now that sports have become more acceptable for girls and women, more straight women and millions of girls play without controversy.
So now there's a smaller percentage of lesbians than, say in the days of the All-American Girls Pro Baseball League (1940s), which required young women to travel around the country (and only accepted unmarried players), and even in the days of the first women's pro basketball league: WBL, 1979-82, which I played in.
In both of those leagues, BTW, they sent players to charm school to appeal to sponsors, highlight or create a feminine appearance, and disguise the fact that many of us were gay. (I boycotted and got traded.)
Paradoxically, it might seem like there are even more lesbians now - but only because many WNBA players and more college softball players, rugby players are out. It still takes a certain comfort with "gender nonconformity" to play the most aggressive sports, like those three, but it's not about testosterone, it's about willingness to buck social conventions.
Glad comments are still part of the pod. I love them 🤗 They make me part of a bigger community.
Re coming out, this may be different for everyone. I have a good friend in her '70s who in some quiet way tells everyone she is lesbian whereas I have never felt the need to do that.
The current assault by trans ideology on lesbian identity and freedom has led me to come out more often, however.