The Alyssa Thomas foul, WNBA discourse, and anti-trans athletes rhetoric

Yes, all of those things are connected and I had intended to write about this issue earlier--specifically in June when the Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury played on the 24th. It was a...contentious game. There was a lot of chirping, some meme-able finger pointing, and after the game, upon league review, a Flagrant 2 foul for Alyssa Thomas that resulted in a one-game suspension. [I assume a fine as well but not sure how much. A player is assessed a $500 fine for a technical.]

And then all hell broke loose when replays and slo-mos and up-close angles that were not available during the game showed Thomas's fist on Caitlin Clark's neck while Clark was on the floor, on her back trying to retain control of the ball. 

The vitriol was immediate and completely disproportionate [and I am saying this as someone who still holds Thomas responsible for taking out the star (Napheesa Collier) of my favorite team (Lynx) in last year's playoffs].

The reaction itself became a story. So finally we have some attention, or as the kids say Discourse, about fan violence toward players. Thomas received death threats. What received less attention was the racist, sexist, homophobic, and yes transphobic, nature of the response to Thomas. 

In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to allow states to ban transgirls and women from women's sports, many smart people have said many smart things, including that the strains of thinking, the ideology upon which this horribly discriminatory decision was made, are not new. And that was evident in the response to Thomas. Comments (and I did not linger in the comments section because I value my mental health) referred to Thomas a man. Why? Because she is seen as aggressive; because she is a tall and muscular Black woman who is a lesbian. This, in some fans eyes, makes her a man. Do they know she is not a man? Of course they do. Just like they know Serena and Venus Williams are not men. But the cry of "she's a man" which is anti-trans rhetoric, is levelled so often against Black women, regardless of their sexuality. Anti-trans activism is based in racist, sexist, and homophobic systems of oppression. 

I think some of the players of the WNBA understand a lot of this. If management does, they don't talk about it. As progressive as the WNBA has become, it is still an elite professional sport organization that exists in the US (and now Canada!) in late-stage capitalism. It is not immune to racism or homophobia and it never has been. We may see it more from fans since Clark has entered the league, but it has always been there. And Thomas is right; the league has to do something about it. 

I hesitated above to call Thomas an aggressive player or refer to the game between the Mercury and Fever as "physical." Those terms mean different things when they are applied to different people. Are there non-aggressive players in the WNBA? Basketball is a sport thus making it inherently physical. So what is being shrouded when we call a player physical or aggressive? Stereotypes. Insults. Insinuations. 

There has been soooooo much talk this WNBA season about the physicality of the game. It's too much, everyone is saying. I actually do not have feelings about this debate (shocking!). I worry when the notion of too physical is invoked in women's sports. But I also do not like seeing athletes being taken out because of reckless play. The WNBA needs to figure this out, quickly but also carefully. 

I do not know if Thomas's action was a flagrant 2 foul. I barely understand fouls in basketball (except for reckless close-outs; commentators have done a good job explaining that one). But I kept seeing "her fist was on Clark's neck. Her fist. Her fist." If her hand was not in a fist. If, in the scramble in which Thomas lost her balance, her hand had been open, the reaction would have been the same. "Her hand was on her neck. She was trying to choke her! Save the white lady from the scary Black lesbian." No commentator is going to highlight this dynamic, this age-old rhetoric. No mainstream sports outlet will either. But it is having a huge effect on this conversation so they should be said out loud. 

I don't know what Alyssa Thomas is like as a person. I don't know what kind of person Caitlin Clark is. None of us regular fans do--no matter how much social media we consume. But I do know that the norms of race and gender and sexuality affect who we think these athletes are.