I love the new interest & platform being given to the
@WNBA
- if you have found yourself following for the first time, here's a thread that may help show just how dynamic these women are. It's by no means exhaustive, if you have something to add please do!
#WNBAHasBeenHere
“Preferences do not develop in isolation. It is highly difficult for folks to become fans of something they’re rarely if ever exposed to” -
@DrLindseyDarvin
Watching the reactions to Naomi Osaka and Kyrie Irving right now says everything about how this country just wants to be entertained by black athletes without having to be faced with their humanity.
I need cis women to understand that these trans bills WILL come for us. The language is gross overreach and government intervention of medical care. We’re not protected.
This fight is all of ours. I don’t know what it will take for us to understand we’re all in this together.
Things I’m offended by, in no particular order:
- defunding the postal service
- children getting handcuffed in schools
- capital gains tax cuts over benefits for the majority of American citizens
- ending social security
Things I’m not offended by:
- the WAP music video
WNBA players are wearing "Vote Warnock" T-shirts to games this week to support Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is challenging Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) for her Senate seat.
.
@Erica_sully
finished second yesterday to Lia Thomas - one of the women you all are claiming are suffering from such unfairness. This is actually how she feels.
I don’t want to know where the racist, sexist murderer went to church. I want to know the names of the women we lost. I want to know their dreams, their loved ones, their dashed hopes that may have pushed others to give up but made them endure. I want honor for their lives.
It’s not a “stunning” rise. It’s a widely predicted rise that leaders in too many places are refusing to acknowledge. We have to stop acting shocked at things that are in no way shocking.
The University of North Carolina shuts down in-person classes at its Chapel Hill campus after a stunning rise in Covid-19 cases just a week after classes began
Do you know why National Girls and Women in Sports Day exists? Because without it, we would go unrecognized, uncelebrated and unseen. Days, movements, campaigns are needed for groups who aren’t centered and every time it gets turned around and used to exclude others.
Stop and read every damn word of this. Then read it again.
Everything you’ve been told about Women’s sports and the “lack of revenue” is a deliberate, bold face lie.
Now apply it everywhere else while you’re at it.
Any woman in sports can tell you what happens to your mentions when ESPN shares something about you, let alone the added layer of this. Something that helps me is to look at the number of ❤️’s over the number of hate comments. ❤️ always win.
Anti-racist work has never been about black vs white, anti-sexist work has never been about men vs women, anti-transphobic work has never been about cis vs not.
We’re all fighting white supremacy and patriarchy. Because if we don’t, it will continue to kill us all.
“If there is anyone out there that still doubts whether there’s an audience for female athletes, let this academy award be the answer” - Ben Proudfoot
#Oscars
#QueenOfBasketball
These women are highlighting the violence we have seen and largely ignored beyond the present moment. Today on
@S10Bird
and
@DianaTaurasi
's shoes are names of women lost going all the way back to 2014. Here are some of their stories.
The fact that people will tweet this and completely miss the point is wild.
DT helped pave that road to the pot of gold.
The W players have spent their whole careers fighting for the ones who come after them to make more money than they did. This is what they wanted.
Watching the NCAA outline the changes made on the women’s tournament side is a fresh reminder that inequity is a choice by those in power. And they can choose to change it…
stories and building up the interest in the players. That’s how the game took off. Who’s building up y’all platform? Who’s telling the individual stories of how great y’all are? Building the interest and transforming women’s basketball into a global game?
What frustrates me the most about the conversation around the WNBA on here today is how much they consistently step up for others. They absolutely could spend all of their time and energy on fighting for themselves but instead, they show what true leadership is.
Dawn is a masterclass here. Clear, calm, slowed down.
This is standing on business. Thank you,
@dawnstaley
- may your timeline be flooded with love and grateful.
Here's the video and transcript:
"If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play."
"Now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me ... and I'm okay with that. I really am."
“It’s not my job to heal the University of North Carolina. That’s the job of the people in power who created this situation in the first place.” —
@nhannahjones
This is a mindset we need to all incorporate. The healing is on those who caused the harm, not those who endured it.
Loving Day - the day in 1967 when the Supreme Court struck down state bans on interracial marriage as unconstitutional. 48 years later it would be legal for Layshia and I to be married. These systems we’re fighting run deep and wide. We’re not free until we’re all free
#LovingDay
Diana, going for 4, just welcome baby
#2
post epic game 5.
Candace, back home trying to give a franchise their 1st title.
Peddy.
Copper.
Married opposing coaches.
Married teammates.
HOW DID WE NOT GET A PREGAME FOR ALL OF THIS?!
Whenever I see someone speak their truth like this after someone stands up for themselves, I think about the part of
@GlennonDoyle
’s book about the sweet grandma asking why suddenly everyone is gay: “I don’t think that gayness is contagious. But I am certain that freedom is”.
I was 14 y/o w/ a tibial stress fracture, left alone w/ no cervical spine exam after this fall. I competed in the Olympic floor final minutes later.
@Simone_Biles
🤍 decision demonstrates that we have a say in our own health—“a say” I NEVER felt I had as an Olympian.
They can be this blatant because they’ve faced zero accountability.
Like
@sarahkendzior
says - they don’t care about getting caught, they care about being punished.
Trump campaign legal adviser: "We're waiting for the United States Supreme Court - of which the President has nominated three justices - to step in and do something. And hopefully Amy Coney Barrett will come through"
"She said, 'Oh no, I've been in prison for 10 months now listening to Russian. I want to talk'" -- Roger Carstens, presidential envoy for hostage affairs, talks about meeting Brittney Griner and bringing her home
We applaud commercials featuring athletes speak on mental health but do absolutely nothing to change the systems that actually contribute to the damage these athlete’s face.
The athletes of the
@TheWNBPA
are unprecedented leaders. The contrast between what is happening with other leagues right now is stark. This is incredible leadership and moral clarity.
📸: Terri Jackson
All men on NBA TNT and all we get on Marcus Morris’ tone deaf comments are: “we knew what he meant” and “you can’t say what you want anymore”.
When will men start calling each other on this?
I’ll never forget being on a call a few years ago with an associate who works exclusively in the men’s sports space. They were trying to push out more content around women’s sports on some of their main channels but were shocked at the response.
I checked this morning and it turns out
@Layshiac
and I are still blissfully married without the Pope’s blessing.
A priest may not have been present for this moment, but I can assure you God was.
I’m usually not scared to share news publicly but the amount of hate, myths & ignorance actually had me debating sharing this joy. I had Top Surgery! I’m feeling free & euphoric in my body & want Trans people to know and see that we’ve always existed & no one can erase us! 🏳️⚧️✊🏽❤️
The parents of Stanford University soccer star Katie Meyer are speaking out about her death by suicide with the hopes of helping other families.
@stephgosk
reports.
If you are having casual conversations about the “validity” of trans women in sports, you are directly contributing to what is happening in Texas. You have emboldened those in power who have been waiting for an issue to unite us in hate.
Today was so beautiful to witness, in a time where there’s so much pain and grief and chaos everyday.
@mPinoe
and these women see the world and it’s possibilities with such clarity and unwavering integrity.
I’m honored to be in their orbit everyday.
Next up: everyone.
Happy
#NationalComingOutDay
Come out when you’re ready, come out when you’re safe. Until then - we see you. There is so much joy on the other side, hang in there ❤️
I think there’s a very tough decision for the networks about taking Trump live on election night, particularly if you know he is going to come out and lie and sow dangerous disinformation about the election.
We have so much corruption to uproot. Once we get this mother*ucker out of office, the real work begins. It’s widespread and it comes from the same foundation of evil.
He was telling us how their comment sections were filled with abuse - something everyone who’s been in women’s sports knows intimately.
@jesscribe
was also on the call, and her response resonated with me.
“That’s the community you’ve built.”
You would think what’s happening with Kyrie speaks for itself but I’ll say this - if you’re equating stepping on a logo to having an object thrown at you while you’re doing your job...you need to stop and do some serious reflection.
Watching the timeline during that game - see what happens when the media tells us to care about Women’s basketball games? See when we get player match up storylines?
People don’t care innately more about men’s sports. We’re forced fed.
This is why victims don’t come forward.
This is why we are enraged when abusers are hired again and again.
This is how trauma compounds.
Cancel culture isn’t real.
Sending peace and strength to every victim of abuse today, and especially to those hurt continually by him.
Listening to these guys defend a teammates decision to not participate in mitigating a global health crisis as if that decision is in any way a personal one, makes me so tired and angry.
The NCAA isn't arguing with the accuracy of photos showing disparities between the weight facilities for men and women at March Madness.
A rep told me the women's convention center is smaller and initially thought not to have space. Officials have now apparently found the space.