The US has long been a hub for women’s sports. The WNBA, first established in 1996, has been one of the most competitive women’s basketball leagues. Even though the U.S. boasts so much top talent, both domestic and international, women’s sports don’t get the attention that they deserve.
Women’s sports in general receive around 15% of sports media coverage (Wasserman), leading to less opportunities to gain new viewers and stopping women’s sports from growing due to their inaccessibility. Even though games are much more difficult to find than NBA games, especially because of the decreased number of games and teams, people still say that the lower viewership means that no one watches women’s sports and that they don’t matter.
Even though women’s sports aren’t promoted as much as men’s, they matter. People care about them, and little girls worldwide look up to female athletes. They aren’t ‘worse versions’ of the men’s leagues, they are women at the top of their game. Female athletes have been at the forefront of change, because they need to be. Many athletes fight against racism, homophobia, and sexism.
As a league dominated by queer women and women of color, WNBA players have been vocal about causes that matter to them, and a lot of this has been supported by the league. Players have been speaking out about Black Lives Matter movement, the inequities between the WNBA and the NBA, and other issues that affect their communities for many years without getting the same recognition or acknowledgement as the men’s league.
The WNBA has skyrocketed in popularity in the past season, with their highest average attendance numbers since 1999. What’s really drawn eyes back to the league this year is the arrival of the 2024 draft class, particularly Caitlin Clark. Clark’s play style is exciting, and so is the narrative of a rivalry between her and another top rookie, Angel Reese.
With the increased interest in NCAA women’s basketball during March Madness, people got invested in a lot of players. People like Cameron Brink, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Kamila Cardoso flourished during their college careers, and brought fans with them to the WNBA when they were drafted.
People who haven’t watched the WNBA in the past are now watching games, going to games, and talking about the WNBA. As someone who only started watching the WNBA this season, I think that the increased attention the league is getting is great but it comes with the inevitable pros and cons of being in the public eye.
More people than ever are talking about the WNBA, but a lot of them act like they know what they’re talking about without ever watching a game, including people in the media. Sports reporters and writers have been talking about the WNBA because of its recent popularity, but it’s clear that a lot of these people don’t watch it. They’re just jumping on the bandwagon because it’s profitable to write about it, even if their articles are terrible.
A lot of new viewers have flocked to the Indiana Fever, the team that ‘Rookie of the Year’ Caitlin Clark plays for after a fantastic college career. She’s brought a lot of new fans to the league, but some – not all – of those fans think that it’s okay to be racist and homophobic towards other players. They have an idea that Clark is being bullied by other players, particularly Black players who they characterize as ‘thuggish’ or ‘aggressive.’ Clark has condemned their behavior, but that hasn’t stopped certain viewers.
Some people who call themselves Clark fans only care about Clark, which is fine. What isn’t fine are the people who trash anyone who is not Clark or playing to their standards on her team. They take mild jealousy from players at the beginning of the season, which was understandable and very minor, and act like Clark is being hunted by other players. It’s an excuse for them to put down women by saying that ‘they’re all jealous of her even though she’s the only reason anyone watches the WNBA’ or that ‘women are always the worst to other women, they just want to sabotage women.’ They also say that Clark is so popular because she’s so good, which is true. However, then say that the rest of the WNBA is good at basketball ‘for women,’ while Clark is just good at basketball.
During the first round of the WNBA playoffs, Clark took a shot to the eye in the first game from a player on the Connecticut Sun, DiJonai Carrington. When asked after the game Carrington said it was unintentional, as did Clark. It was simply an unfortunate result of a play on the ball, but from the online outcry you would think that Carrington had pulled a knife on her. Even though both Carrington and Clark said that it was unintentional, ‘fans’ of the Fever refused to believe either player.
To them, it was clearly a purposeful attack on Clark. Carrington received hate mail and death threats all over social media, with people attacking her with racist and sexist remarks. Even if Carrington had, for some reason, purposefully hit Clark in the eye, it still would not be okay to treat her the way that these ‘fans’ did. Racism and sexism should never be used to attack players for doing things that you disagree with, because it’s not ‘defense,’ it’s just bigotry. That should not be something that has to be spelled out to people, but here we are.
These ‘fans’ have created a narrative around Clark, that because she is white and straight she’s being persecuted. Never mind that white players like Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Elena Delle Donne have been stars. As Cameron Brink has acknowledged, white players in the league benefit from white privilege even though the league is mostly Black, especially the more feminine players. Although the WNBA is full of queer players there are still a lot of players who are straight and/or publicly dating men. Dearica Hamby and Napheesa Collier are both in straight relationships. A’ja Wilson, three-time MVP, has said that she’s straight and brought cake during Pride Month for her queer teammates.
Clark is certainly a generational talent and she’s brought a lot of attention to the league, both good and bad, but the league was not formed when Clark declared for the draft. People seem to forget that the WNBA was built by the women who came before Clark and her draft class, such as women who started playing in the 90s and 2000s, like Sue Bird, Lisa Leslie, and Diana Taurasi. More recent players too, like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Britney Griner, and Napheesa Collier. So many of these players are black women, and a lot of them are queer.
You cannot call yourself a fan of the WNBA and spew racism, homophobia, and sexism in the same breath. This league has a reputation for social justice and activism from its players, and it is majority women of color with a lot of out queer women. They don’t want you or your patronage if you insist on disrespecting them. What they want is to be able to do their jobs without being harassed and treated like trash. Let them play basketball, and focus on their skills and the game instead of their looks or the nonexistent drama stirred up by fans and bad journalists.