The concept is simple, really. It is something my mother said frequently growing up, other than to get the hell out of her way while cooking dinner. Never bite the hand that feeds you she said, and it is a notion I have held closely as I have grown up. Never disrespect my parents, for they are the reason I exist and have the life I have today. Never turn my back on friends, because they are there for you when the going gets rough. Do not violate rules of employment, because employment is an essential key to being able to be independent and function in cultures around the world. No matter what stage of life we are talking about, you never bite the hand the feeds you.
Someone probably should have told this to former Stanford Cardinal and WNBA player Candice Wiggins, who stated in an interview with The San Diego Union Tribune that she was bullied throughout her time in the WNBA, and that it has a harmful culture. She made several more questionable comments in the article, such as that her being vocal as heterosexual and straight contributed to the bullying, and that 98% of women who play in the WNBA are gay.
Oh sweet Jesus, please fix it. I am not here to argue whether or not she was bullied as part of her time in the WNBA. If she felt that was her experience, then I cannot discredit that because I witnessed nothing. The interview is disturbing for many reasons, and has caused backlash through professional sports.The wrong response to this revealing article is to say she is lying or that it never happened-she obviously feels this way for a reason, be it just or unjust. However, when pushed for comment after her comments become widely criticized by the public, especially those within the WNBA, she stated she wants peace and privacy. Unfortunately, when criticizing an entire league of athletes and league administration who gave you a platform for this so-called “career” you have built, you do not get privacy or peace. You started cooking this meal, so you had damn well better finish it. If you are going to create a conversation, and the truth is that she is THE creator of this discussion, then you must be prepared to continue it.
I, as a fan of basketball regardless of league and gender association, am here; however, to criticize how she made her remarks. As a gay man, I have heard many a conversation about why those within the LGBT community push their sexuality out onto other people. I will say once again, that we are not pushing it on anybody but rather, we are enjoying basic freedoms that heterosexuals have enjoyed their entire goddamn lives. If you try to counter your peers by vocalizing unnecessarily your identity as a straight woman, you may or may not experience criticism. If you identify as heterosexual, regardless of race or gender, you have held your privilege without question. It has never been invalidated, threatened, or criticized in a public forum. As many have now called for, Wiggins need to check her privilege as a heterosexual woman and not speak for an entire league of individuals. As a human, you also do not get to assign a percentage to a population of people that feeds into the long-standing criticism that if you are a female athlete, you must be a lesbian. Statistically speaking, it must be damn near impossible for an entire league of female professional athletes to be lesbian. Her estimate of 98% is both offensive, and fueling the flames that come from critics of the WNBA as an entity.
As Imani Boyette notes, a player heading into her second year with the Chicago Sky, she has now created an opportunity for fair play in the media for questions to players about their sexual orientation. As Boyette puts it, nobody asks male stars in the NBA who they sleep with at night, drawing the conclusion that peers in the WNBA deserve the same treatment. The strongest statement from Boyette however, lies in her subtle challenge to Wiggins, asking her if she has met all 144 athletes in the WNBA and essentially polled them on their private lives. Wiggins unfairly allowed herself to speak about sexuality for a league of women who face stereotypes and criticism on a daily basis. She allowed herself to be the sole representation based on criticism of a league she no longer represents as an active player. As a professional athlete, Wiggins should be no stranger to talking to a journalist. She should have encouraged interviewing of other athletes who may be able to support her story in some way. It is unfortunate to hear that she feels this way about her time in an inclusive league, but the WNBA was about athletes other than Candice Wiggins before she got there, while she was there, and after she left. As their more recent slogan says, it has always been about 'whose got next' as they continue to trend upwards and establish the league in professional sports.
There is speculation out there that these comments were made by Wiggins to create interest in her upcoming book. By making comments that seem based only in speculation, not fact, Wiggins has created a storm for herself but not in the way she probably intended. Her comments offend the very people she considered peers at once point as a player and the people who work behind the scenes every day. Those women, and men, are not interested in statements she made that seem to be false, nor do they want to give it time, attention and money it does not deserve. The people who care about her comments are the long time critics of the league, those who hide behind vague Twitter pictures and spew sexist and homophobic comments. Those who believe that women have no place in sport, that female athletes are lesbian (as if there is something wrong with that), and that the best place for a women is probably in the kitchen cooking their dinner. Wiggins has bit the hand that feeds her, and leaving those without the desire to support women hungry for more. The singular problem here…is that Wiggins has no more to give.
