don't you dare ignore us - wnba
Never mind. Point being that you don't have to get too worked up about us, dear educated minds. You don't have to think of us as real girls, real flesh and blood, real pain, real injustice. That might be too upsetting. Just discard the sordid part. Consider us pure symbol. We're no more real than money. - Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
"Women were not put on this earth just for men to look at. We are people. We have a purpose. We are role models. I am an athlete first and foremost" - Elena Delle Donne on Gilbert Arenas' comments that WNBA players should play in bikinis, 2015
"When you're a male athlete you're allowed to just play your sport. But everything about us, regardless of our play on the court, we're judged on. We're judged on what we look like, we're judged on who we love. And it's been that way for many, many years" - Sue Bird on the activism of WNBA players, 2020
"This has been going on for centuries, the sexualization of women. This is the latest version of that. And it’s not funny and it should not be the butt of jokes on radio shows, or in print or any comments. The sexualization of women is what’s used to hold women down and this is no different. This is its latest form, and we should write about it in that way. These people that are doing this should be held accountable and we’re not the butt of the joke. They’re the problem." - Cheryl Reaves on sex toys being thrown on WNBA courts, 2025
