On players blogging

I have to admit I’m a bit behind on what’s going on over at the WPS Fancorner. Players blogging is a regular thing now and it’s cool and the blogs get lots of comments. The posts themselves remain a bit on the tame & quaint side – thanking fans, appreciating the win or lamenting the loss, writing about remaining focused blah blah blah… And I’m sure that is really what these women are thinking and feeling at the time. But it’s also worthwhile to bring attention and give credit to an athlete who blogs regularly, who writes thoughtful posts, and who engages in debate in the comments. So to everyone reading who isn’t subscribed to Chantelle Anderson of WNBA’s Atlanta Dream’s YardBarker blog, you are missing out. She’s only been at it for about a month but she has already tackled topics head-on such as perceptions of female athletes as ugly or manly, whether it’s appropriate or degrading for women to pose provocatively, and the somewhat general belief out there that most or all female athletes are lesbians. And since she’s a professional athlete in the thick of these controversies, her thoughts on the topics are a great read. Despite the fact that she writes these posts with basketball in mind, her thoughts are broad enough to apply to women’s soccer and women’s athletics in general. For instance, in her post Why Men Hate Lesbians, she writes

You always hear about men having lesbian fantasies, or how they think its hot for two women to hook up. So why then, do people always use the “lesbian factor” as an excuse to hate womens basketball? I’ll tell you why: because men love lesbians, as long as they’re straight. I realize a straight lesbian is a total oxymoron. But what I mean is, men don’t mind girls getting drunk and making out with each other, or singing songs about kissing girls, because at the end of the day, those same girls are still in the market for men. Meaning the guys still have a chance to have sex with them. But as soon as you remove the do-ability factor, the hope that he might have a chance at getting her in bed, men all the sudden are just not that interested. Random men come up to me all the time and tell me, “I could take you 1 on 1.” It doesn’t matter if they’re 50 pounds overweight or haven’t picked up a basketball since high school. For their ego to stay in tact, they need to sincerely believe its impossible to get beat by a girl.

And the second coment in this post…

I played Division I women’s college basketball, infact, I played against you Chantelle, yet I have never attended a WNBA game and most likely never will. Quit frankly, women’s basketball plays second fiddle to men’s basketball because of a lower level of skill and athleticism more than some convoluted theory about men hating lesbians.

…to which Chantelle replied

Some people may wonder why I posted an article like this. It’s because the issue of sexuality comes up in at least 75% of the candid conversations I have with non-fans of the WNBA. I’ve never been one to walk around the pink rhino in the room, so lets talk. I encourage everyone to be candid, RESPECTFUL, and lets just have a conversation.

And the readers did have a conversation. The post contained 193 comments and Chantelle responded to many of them.

While me writing this isn’t a demand that WPS players start “keeping it real” in the blogosphere, it is an acknowledgement that talking about or writing about the more controversial topics pertaining to women’s sports should not be discouraged. A player should not feel they will get in trouble if they want to discuss these things. Or as the Because I Played Sports blog put it, after they posted their podcast interview with Chantelle, “Keep airing these topics – we need to keep having these important conversations. Most importantly, we need ALL women in the sports industry to participate.”

Category: Somewhat Off-Topic