Women as mirrors, men as absolutes
There isn't more drama in the WNBA, there is just more scrutiny of and for women.
How many things can be true at once? Two, four, 20? If truth is in the eye of the beholder, then it’s more like 8.3 billion, roughly the current population of earth. And then, can truths change? Better still, how good are we at giving them room to?
During the Tempo-Dream game last Friday, Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello was caught on an official’s mic complaining that Angel Reese, who plays for the Dream, was a “protected species.” The comment came after Reese elbowed Nyara Sabally in the ribs, and as Sabally was being checked for injury by Tempo medical staff.
Reese was upset, Brondello issued an apology the next morning, and the WNBA announced it was suspending Brondello for one game. All things are true.
The term is, as Brondello explained, an Australian euphemism for an athlete handled with extra care who tends to get a favourable whistle. I’d never heard it before but the conceit is a through-line in pro sports, think about the “foul merchant” moniker applied to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the recent theatrics in the World Cup, of grown men writhing around on the pitch after slight contact. Think of LeBron James, in most games. The term is also Australian, and they’ve got some unique turns of phrase. Both things true.
Was it heavy-handed of the league to suspend Brondello a game versus fining her? Perhaps, but it was also an easy way to set a standard going forward on how the WNBA actively protects its players. It could also be a ripple effect of recent racist messages sent to the Aces Chelsea Gray via DM. A case where the person sending the messages did end up getting fired, but where the W had no overt oversight. All things true.
Brondello, who played in the league and has a track record with the athletes in it now as an advocate and ally, doesn’t need to be a bigot for a comment she made to be interpreted as harmful by Reese. Intent versus impact, as has been pointed out by the The Athletic’s ‘No Offseason’ podcast, is paramount in many public-facing spaces and certainly this situation. Black women have historically born the brunt of racial prejudice where anti-Black racism and sexism intersect, and misogynoir has unfortunately found many new ignorant footholds in the WNBA. Mostly recently by rightwing identity politics practitioners adopting Caitlin Clark as a paternalistic pet cause, and seemingly having no understanding that basketball is a physical sport.
All: true.
With myriad truths in play from the beginning the situation is less about which one is paramount than it is about our capacity to hold onto each truth in turn. To process and, perhaps crucially, not react. The WNBA is often criticised for its “drama”, that every issue or situation results in manifold responses, but the truth (another truth) is that the NBA has just as many issues, as much drama. The difference is that women are treated as mirrors, men as absolutes.
