Motivation Quote by Martina Navratilova

Navratilova is naming a particular American paranoia: the fear that women’s physical competence might scramble the gender order. The line lands because it’s bluntly anecdotal - “People in the States used to think” - and that casual phrasing is the tell. She’s not quoting policy; she’s recalling the ambient, everyday suspicion that hung around locker rooms, school boards, and dinner tables. “Used to” carries both progress and accusation: this wasn’t ancient history, just recent enough to still sting.

The intent is corrective, but not polite. By choosing “affected” rather than “revealed” or “judged,” she exposes how sexuality was treated like a contagion: a condition sports could cause, as if confidence, muscles, or competitiveness were chemicals that could “turn” a girl. It’s a neat summary of a whole era of gatekeeping where femininity was policed through body language and hobbies. Excel too visibly and you were recategorized.

Context sharpens the edge. Navratilova didn’t just watch this culture; she became its lightning rod - a dominant champion and, later, one of the most famous openly gay athletes. Her career runs alongside Title IX’s expansion of girls’ sports in the U.S., a period when women’s athletics grew faster than the culture’s comfort with it. The subtext is that the panic was never really about sexuality; it was about control. Sports offered girls a public arena for ambition, aggression, and authority. Calling that “sexuality” made it easier to shame, marginalize, and keep the playing field - literally and socially - uneven.