Caitlin Clark v ‘angry lesbians’
You don’t need to know anything about basketball to have heard of Caitlin Clark. She’s a record-breaking superstar who has helped take women’s basketball to new heights. Unfortunately, she’s also been shoved into a starring role in the culture wars. An awful lot of conservative men, who don’t ordinarily give a damn about women’s sports, have decided that she provides a very convenient excuse for them to be racist and misogynistic on main. Although, to be fair, they don’t normally need an excuse.
Here’s the situation: Clark is one of the most fouled players in the WNBA. Some of her fans have claimed that this is the result of a vendetta, that the Indiana Fever rookie is being bullied by players who are jealous of her fame. It’s certainly possible some of Clark’s peers don’t like her, but she’s also not the most fouled player. At the time of writing, she was sitting at No 6 with 67 personal fouls drawn, while A’ja Wilson had the top spot with 88. It’s also true that basketball is a physical sport and so what might look like aggression to some new fans might simply be business as usual. “I’m just taken aback that the new fans are so shocked,” Candace Buckner, a sports columnist with the Washington Post, told the BBC. “It’s a contact sport. It’s almost as if you were a new opera fan and you were surprised there was music.”
While some of Clark’s fans are accusing her fellow players of jealousy, a certain group of galaxy-brains has decided that the star is actually a victim of reverse discrimination. Conservative commentator Clay Travis, who is the founder of OutKick, is one of the loudest of these voices.
“Caitlin Clark is a white heterosexual woman in a Black lesbian league and they resent and are jealous of all of the attention and the [alleged $28m Nike] deal that she got,” Travis said on Fox News earlier this month.
Internet personality Stew Peters (who has more than 600,000 followers on X) is fond of the same talking point; he’s just added a little more overt racism. “White WNBA player Caitlin Clark is being physically assaulted EVERY GAME by Shaq-looking black lesbians but nobody wants to talk about,” Peters tweeted on Thursday.
Actually, Mr Peters, your compatriots can’t stop talking about it.
Sports journalist Jason Whitlock has also chimed in on the matter. “The WNBA for 25-26 years has basically been a traveling lesbian sex cult,” Whitlock told Fox Sports Radio recently. “They’re upset that Caitlin Clark is bringing heterosexual people into their arena.”
Golly, if I’d known that the WNBA was a “traveling lesbian sex cult”, I would have tried out for the basketball team at university. As it was, I did my best to avoid balls.
I’ll spare you more hot takes from the Conservative Men Who Are Suddenly Very Interested in Women’s Sports brigade. The upshot of all this messy discourse is this: Clark’s name is being used to push racist, homophobic and misogynistic talking points and being weaponized in the targeted abuse of Black players like Angel Reese.
So how has Clark responded to this? Well, until recently, with little more than a shrug. She’s said she tries to stay off social media and focus on basketball. She’s also said social media is “not something I can control”. Which, in some ways, is fair enough. It’s not the 22-year-old’s job to try to make social media less toxic. But not speaking out when her name is being used to push vile agendas does feel like a cop-out. Silence is never neutral, after all. Silence is complicity.
Earlier this month, the Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington called Clark out on this: “How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts,” Carrington tweeted. “We all see the s—. We all have a platform.”
It seems like Carrington’s feedback might have resonated. On Thursday, Clark addressed the issue more directly when a writer from the Athletic asked her how she feels about her name being weaponized. “It’s disappointing,” Clark said. “The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect, so people should not be using my name to push those agendas.” It’s a bit of a wishy-washy statement, but it’s something. Clark should be applauded for finally speaking up.
Dua Lipa says she’s fine with backlash against her opinions, if it’s for the greater good
Caitlin Clark might learn a couple of things about using her voice from Dua Lipa, who has been relentlessly targeted for speaking up in support of Palestinians and demanding a ceasefire. A chart-topping song in Israel even called for the IDF to attack the singer. In a recent interview with the Radio Times, the singer said she was thoughtful about what she posts and determined to use her platform for good. “It’s always going to be met with a backlash and other people’s opinions, so it’s a big decision,” Lipa said about speaking on Gaza. “I balance it out, because ultimately I feel it’s for the greater good, so I’m willing to [take that hit].”
The record-breaking Nepalese climber who now works at a Connecticut supermarket
The Guardian has a fascinating interview with Lhakpa Sherpa, the subject of Lucy Walker’s recent acclaimed documentary, Mountain Queen. The 48-year-old single mother speaks seven languages, has summited Everest 10 times (she was the first Nepalese woman to climb Everest) and recently scaled K2. She pretended to be a boy to get her first job in the Himalayas and “hasn’t stopped fighting since”.
Pregnant women should be tested for diabetes earlier, study suggests
Gestational diabetes affects one in seven pregnancies worldwide and is the most common medical pregnancy complication. In England, the US and a number of other countries, women at risk of gestational diabetes are normally tested between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. Now academics from around the world are calling for testing and treatment before 14 weeks.
New Zealand woman takes boyfriend to disputes tribunal because he didn’t take her to the airport
Normally, the United States monopolizes the news when it comes to completely bonkers lawsuits, so it’s nice to see some international representation. The claim, by the way, was dismissed.
Democrats move to repeal 1873 law they say could pave way for national abortion ban
The Comstock Act is an ancient anti-obscenity law that, among other things, bans mailing abortion-related materials. Nobody would care about this “zombie” law, were it not for the fact that abortion activists (who excel at using creative legal strategies to advance their agenda) are keen on reviving the law to end access to abortion and contraception during a potential second Trump term. On Thursday, the Minnesota Democratic senator Tina Smith introduced a bill to repeal the Comstock Act. While it’s highly unlikely this bill is going to go anywhere in the Senate, it is intended to draw attention to the issue, and it’s succeeding there.
Denmark men’s footballers refuse raise to ensure equal pay with for women’s team
How do you say ‘“good on you, lads!” in Danish? This is what solidarity looks like.
Nigel Farage says Andrew Tate is “important voice” for men in podcast interview
If you’re a US reader unfamiliar with Farage, he’s basically England’s dollar-shop Trump. Speaking to a podcast, the Reform UK leader recently praised Tate for defending “male culture”. Tate, let’s not forget, is facing “charges in Romania of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women”.
The Idaho Republican party’s official 2024 platform takes aim at IVF
Last weekend, the Idaho Republican party approved a new platform that expands the definition of “abortion actions” to include the “destruction of human embryos”. This is a nod to IVF, which usually involves making numerous embryos, as not all will be viable. It’s yet another sign that, despite their protests, Republicans seem very keen to outlaw IVF.
The week in pawtriarchy
Have you noticed how fancy dog food’s got lately? While a lot of people are struggling with the cost of groceries, privileged pooches are living it up. Michelin-starred chef José Andrés has a “Mediterranean-inspired” dog-food brand, and fancy hotels often have dog room-service menus. Intrigued by this premiumization trend, a journalist at the Atlantic decided to try some posh dog food herself. Her verdict? “Anyone would be lucky to eat it,” she said.
