The trans athlete monster movie is back. Don’t buy the sequel.
As a trans athlete finds success in women's basketball, she's painted as a monster by some and drawn into a conversation 3,000 miles away.
Mark
Amidst the fight about trans inclusion in the WNBA was a relatively unknown baller from the across the Atlantic named Julie Tétart.
Tétart plays professional basketball in France. She is a member of Monaco Basket Association, a team in Ligue Feminine 2.
Last season, the 34-year-old, 6-foot-3 post player led LF2 with 21 points and 20 rebounds a game. She’s a rangy player who can run the floor and handle the ball, and she is one of two transgender players in the league.
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She was recently quoted by a few American outlets seeking to bring her into the WNBA inclusion debate.
“If they contact me, I won’t say no,” she reportedly told Fox News. “But, you have to be realistic. I’m old, and there are far better players than me.”
The headlines: “French trans phenom Julie Tétart looks WNBA-ready” and “Dominating French trans basketball player implores WNBA for chance to play!”
And the worst of it was misgendering courtesy of Jason Whitlock who repeatedly referred to Tétart as “he.”
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During this week’s WNBA game between Indiana and Atlanta, fans were asked to cover trans-athlete shirts. The WNBA has said this was wrong.
Here we go again.
The monster movie is back for the sequel, the false fear of transgender women rising out of the bay to devour women’s sports.
I did some digging and found an article from a Monaco-based outlet that did a profile on Tétart. It delved into her personal journey and legal path she had to trek to transition and to play her sport.
It showed a human being, not a culture-war symbol.
“My testosterone level is 0.35 ng/mL, while cisgender women are generally at 0.5,” Tétart told Monaco Hebdo. “My cardio has decreased considerably, as has my breathing and my jumping ability. I have to work intensively to honor my contract at the five position.”
I reached out to Tétart. Despite my broken French, I laid out hopes of interviewing her, perhaps giving fans in the U.S a different perspective. A human story instead of culture-war noise.
I sent a substantial battery of questions centered on how she got here, the great season she had last year and dealing with the regulations and legal pathways toward playing in France.
She told me that she appreciated this approach.
Five days later, after Sophie Cunningham’s trans-athlete comments and the WNBA becoming embroiled in the conversation, Tétart sent a polite message saying she decided not to participate.
I was disappointed, but I don’t blame her. I would most likely make the same decision.
She didn’t ask to be dragged into the quagmire of cisgender American hysteria. She’s preparing for her team’s season opener on September 26 against Rouen Bihorel.
This is par for the course for trans people in sports, and trans people in general right now.
Royce White’s ridicule attempt at drag and Enes Kanter Freedom’s bad-faith shock-jock schtick are listened to more than actual trans athletes who’ve dealt with regulations, bans and anti-trans media.
Veronica Ivy again the center of attention for her success
Tétart isn’t the only athlete fitted with the monster costume recently.
A different outlet put former track cycling champion-turned golfer Veronica Ivy front and center. The 2018 and 2019 UCI world masters champ plays amateur golf in her native Canada, and she was part a provincial team that won a national mid-amateur title in July.
The opening sentence blares: “Transgender athlete Veronica Ivy is now dominating a second sport!”
“They just see that I won some competition–without any checking for what level of competition it was,” Ivy stated. “I went from competing in elite world-level track cycling, though never making the national team or the Olympics, to contesting for age group provincial titles.
“I still haven’t cracked the top 10 at the Canadian national mid-amateur championship. I’m just out here trying my best, being a good competitor. Transphobes are pathetic.”
The frustration extended to another tall tale.
Ivy put on her social media that she has the ambition to drive a golf ball 280 yards. The outlet made a point that only three LPGA tour players average 280 yards.
How did we get from “I want to drive a ball 280 yards” to “she averages 280 yards?”
“I never said anything about my average being 280. In fact, during the 2026 Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship tournament, I calculated my actual average driving distance and it was exactly 250,” she noted.
“The amazing thing is that these stories came about because of what I achieved in the team portion of the Canadian Mid-Am Championship, and not a single story has reported my individual result: I was tied for 12th and 21 strokes behind the winner. That’s a laughably large gap”
Yet again, this is what happens when irresponsible reporters grab the microphone, and media outlets that have a measure of professionalism cede it.
Five years ago, I wrote about the “monster movie” effect and implored fellow journalists to stop chasing the tale and seek out the story.
Julie Tétart and Veronica Ivy are real athletes with real stories, not monsters.
Personally, if I want to spend my time watching monsters, manufactured outrage and another sequel, the new Spider-Man film is a much better choice.
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