I'm Watching The WNBA, Respectfully
There is a worry in every blogger's mind that when we post something involving an attractive female athlete, we will be "dragged" by the "internet" for being "missogenic" (Dave voice). Like that somehow we are the devil for posting an attractive woman feeling good about herself. Weirdly, we've always been on the side of "she's hot and she knows she's hot and she wants everyone to see how hot she is, let's celebrate it!" while the loser white knights of the world somehow think they are doing the lord's work for being mad at us for simply sharing good looking women strutting their stuff.
But it appears the WNBA and their athletes have turned a corner and they want EVERYONE to know it. And by golly, it is working.
From Kelsey Plum
to the SKIMS campaign
To Cameron Brink above, it's great that the WNBA is showing this other side of their players that we haven't seen before.
Do you NEED to show skin to get attention? Of course not. I'd argue quite the opposite, in fact. For example, every 4 years at the Olympics the country rallies around our great women's gymnastics team, the elite swimmers, figure skaters, etc. The women that dominate their sport get the attention, regardless of if they are considered "hot" by the mainstream. Caitlin Clark got everyone's attention by hitting 3's from the parking lot and showing personality on the court. The WNBA saw that, and now is showing more of their players personalities than ever. If it is their fashion, so be it, everyone is different and who are we as old bald men to say otherwise?
The WNBA has never been more mainstream since the days of the ESPN commercials with Rebecca Lobo and Cynthia Cooper. I will be watching, respectfully.