lean, mean, petey winger machine

I'd say it's valuable to acknowledge that transphobia in the pwhl (and more broadly in women's sport) is embedded, that many players are transphobic and/or do not think about trans women in hockey at all, and that it is a systemic issue

but I don't think we need to accept it.

Jessica Platt is not as widely known by people who didn't follow the CWHL back in the day, but she was the first trans woman in the CWHL, where she played defense for the Toronto Furies alongside teammates Renata Fast, Elaine Chuli, Sarah Nurse, and Natalie Spooner (+ others).

I can't speak for the kinds of teammates she had overall or the support she received in the locker room from her teammates as well as institutionally from the league, but this is what she said in one interview:

which is to say, professional women's hockey players in the pwhl right now have played with trans women before, and I certainly hope that there are many of them who would continue to fight for the ability of trans women to play in the pwhl in the same ways they fought and fight for their ability to play in a professional league that fairly compensates them.

I'm not trying to rainbows and butterflies this. It is a systemic issue that is reinforced and perpetuated by individual players, coaches, etc. digit murphy blocked me on twitter for a reason.