A lot has been said about this situation and I believe Kat and wish her the best - but this is something I want to highlight. Marginalized individuals in the scene should /not/ have to feel like they need to "prove" they can play to be a part of the scene. Pokemon is a game.
I felt this way in 2006 in my first tournament, I felt this way when I played in Worlds, and sometimes I feel this way behind the desk now. I can't imagine how some people feel on the floor given my experiences as somebody who is cis; I fear our trans/gnc players struggle worse.
((can't wait for the above tweet to get auto reported on this platform btw))
Games are fun. Games are escapism. I play Pokemon to forget about how stupid the world can be sometimes, as much as I hate getting flinched, frozen, or dire clawed out of existence it's nice to just...exist in a world where it's just you and your opponent and your brains.
Feeling like you have the weight of your entire gender (for lack of any better way to say this - apologies) is the worst thing to carry into a tournament, and I speak from experience. On top of all the nerves and the pressure of competing now all of a sudden it's -
- not /you/ messing up, it's /"women"/ playing bad. It's re-enforcing a stereotype that has nothing to do with the game at hand and everything to do with somebody else's insecurities and frustrations at the world. "You're" not a part of the conversation, you're just a stand in.
All of this to say - there is a lot to unpack here and I'm pretty exhausted by it all right now. I apologize for not being as on top of things as I would like to be but it's...a lot. I am really sorry that Kat was forced to come forward and I genuinely wish her well.