The Seattle Storm won its fourth WNBA championship, which is great. However, Sue Bird who has been with the Storm since 2002 goes on record saying, "soccer players are cute little white girls and we are not." I get what she is saying but to me, if I was a female soccer player I would be pretty offended by this comment. What does she think female soccer players do to become successful: spend time at the tanning salon? I am sure the female soccer players train very hard to be the best that they can be.
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Is she really wrong though? She's not saying that female soccer players don't work hard for their success, she's saying that they're more palatable for mainstream America because of participant demographics and associated stereotypes.
Just given who her partner is, would assume that she would be careful about this issue.
I agree here, clearly it’s a gross generalization probably said in the heat of the moment and not meant to be taken word-for-word literally.
I agree here, clearly it’s a gross generalization probably said in the heat of the moment and not meant to be taken word-for-word literally.
Nothing to see here...TRUMPS TAXES!
Didn't both Tinder and Psychology Today cite data sets a few years back that already explained that she's right? It's accepted that almost across the board that women's sports are watched less than their male counterparts. Women that are statistically seen as more attractive are going to get more viewers tuning in, you see the same thing with streamers and probably every other performance-based profession. WNBA average height is 5'11, average height for the forwards on U.S. women's roster was 5'7. Which do you think will appeal to a larger demographic based just on the height difference when you realize that the average height of men in the US is 5'9, then take into account that the US is still majority white. The female soccer players are of course super hard workers, and so are the WNBA players. No one can take away from that. But Sue is also not entirely wrong saying that women's soccer will receive wider viewership partly because of their appearance's effect on ratings. All she's doing is pointing out the obvious though so I fail to see how acknowledging it is remotely important.
I do not disagree with what you are saying but Sue Bird's comments diminish the accomplishments of female soccer players. They work very hard to be good as they are. Should some of them take advantage of their appearance for compensation? Of course, they should. If compensation and viewership were important to Sue Bird, she should have pursued another career. Most female athletes do not make much money. Unless you are an elite player who is attractive, you will not make much money. As a female athlete, appearance alone will not lead to lucrative deals.
I think this statement was taken out of context and to continue to argue that Sue Bird diminished the accomplishments of female soccer players is just wrong analysis. Any female professional athlete recognizes when another athlete is criticizing the system/society that they operate in, rather than the players themselves (they have to do it constantly anyways when coming to terms with how much more popular the male version of their sport is, even if they suck like men's soccer). This kind of analysis, of social bias and how that affects the sports' success among consumers, is so incredibly common among female athletes trying to go for any kind of "pro" league that I doubt any female athlete (regardless of sport) would really make the jump to say "wow she's diminishing me and everything I've done".
Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird's long term girlfriend, literally made the exact same argument in an article put out earlier this month. Feel like people are just trying to stir up drama around this when the athletes themselves are mostly in agreement on it lol
lol
"Cute little white girls"
This confirms my suspicion that the WNBA is full of carpet munchers.
Why are we manufacturing outrage, on WSO, on behalf of female soccer players?
Get a hobby, people.
CRE: “Get a life and stop posting on stupid ass message boards!” collects 50,000th post on same message board
You represent the Biden/Harris coalition well! Hypocrisy you can believe in!
CRE: “Get a life and stop posting on stupid ass message boards!” collects 50,000th post on same message board
You represent the Biden/Harris coalition well! Hypocrisy you can believe in!
Hah, that's not how banana points work, but I laughed - I'll give you that.
I created the post because I like women's soccer and know how hard they work to be good. I am not sure why you are giving me shit for this?
You're a fan of women's soccer, then why aren't you a fan of the WNBA? Are you some kind of racist?
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