"Effing irresponsible" - Martina Navratilova furious as swimmer Riley Gaines is told to simply not look at transgender colleague Lia Thomas' genitals

Former tennis player Martina Navratilova has shared her thoughts on women having to share the changing room with transgender athletes in a heated debate on social media.

Swimmer Riley Gaines recently revealed that her trans competitor Lia Tomas was "so well-endowed that she had to refrain from looking at her crotch in the locker room."

Katy Montgomerie, who is a feminist and an LGBT rights advocate according to her website, slammed Gaines for the comment and urged her to simply not look at other people's genitals in the locker room.

"Making up deranged stories about trans people's genitals is a fetish like what the actual f..k is this. She's watched too much p..n," Montgomerie wrote on Twitter.

"I've managed to refrain from looking at the genitals of every single person I've ever been in a changing room with. I didn't realize it was a challenge for some," she added.

That prompted a response from Martina Navratilova, who claimed that Montgomerie's tweet was "effing irresponsible." The 18-time Slam champion also wondered if Montgomerie would advise a 10-year-old girl in the locker room to do the same when confronted with a similar situation involving transgender athletes.

"Well good for you. Tell that to the 10-year-old girl in the locker room too - just don't look there and hopefully that person won't look at you either... how effing irresponsible is this?!" Navratilova replied on Twitter.

Navratilova has always been vocal about transgender athletes, most recently praising World Aquatics' decision of creating an "open category" for transgender athletes. She has previously said that trans athletes "just need to compete in the category based on their biological sex, not based on self-id."

Martina Navratilova calls out USTA's transgender inclusion policy

Martina Navratilova at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2023

Martina Navratilova also recently called out the United States Tennis Association (USTA)'s transgender inclusion policy.

The legendary tennis player responded to a post from Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS) co-founder Kim Shasby Jones, who wrote that "women's tennis was turning into a laughing stock" because of USTA policies favoring men.

"Come on USTA- women's tennis is not for failed male athletes - whatever age. This is not right and it is not fair. Would this be allowed at the US Open this month? Just with self-ID? I don't think so..." Navratilova stated.

Shasby Jones ignited a raging debate on Saturday after revealing that a transgender athlete named Alicia Rowley, who self-identified as female, won a women's tournament in Philadelphia last month.

The association used that as example to claim that women were being stripped of their right to fair competition while 'men' were winning national titles at the expense of the women.

"Men are winning national titles, taking the place of women on team tennis, and competing in women’s tournaments across the country," Shasby Jones said.

"We need to let the women and girls playing tennis know that they deserve to be treated fairly and recognized for their accomplishments no matter when they pick up the sport. They do not have to reach any kind of elite status," she added.