Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Grantland: Brittney Griner and the Quiet Queering of Professional Sports
By Wesley Morris
Last week was a pretty good one for Brittney Griner. She got a job playing for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. A few days later, she sat down alongside the nos. 2 and 3 draft picks — Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins — for a round of interviews, including a six-and-a-half-minute conversation with SI.com, during which Griner casually included herself as a gay role model for girls. If a moment could be both amazing and utterly "whatever," this was it. Maybe it was amazing for its utter whateverness. It was news, of course, and yet it wasn't. Birds didn't fall from the sky. Commissioner Gordon didn't need to flash the Bat-Signal. And no one even did that nervous-cough, "ahem" thing people do when they're mildly embarrassed or pleasantly surprised by a guest's lack of decorum at an important social function. It was as if Griner had answered a question about homosexuality in sports by saying, "Sporty was my favorite Spice."
Honestly, the most amazing thing Griner did last week wasn't even that visible. For both the draft and her SI.com interview — during which she wore glasses, a blue gingham shirt, and a dotted, ivory bow tie — Griner did something lots of women do, something that bestowed a bit of glamour to basic grooming. Brittney Griner painted her fingernails. In fact, she painted them a shade of orange that might have been awkward had she been picked up by, say, the Atlanta Dream instead of the Mercury. Doing your nails is one of those superfluous cosmetic flourishes that, on most women, is purely fun — if you're an American sprinter at the Olympics, it's the most fun of all.
But with Griner her orange nails were playful in a different direction. They feminized her menswear — she wore a fetching white tuxedo on draft night (the vests, the neckwear, the dress shirts, the slacks) — but they didn't sell it out. They defused her look, they delivered Griner's masculinity from drag, from performance, from posing into nature. They told you she's not playing or pretending with these clothes. She's just being. In 10 years, the suits and shirts won't change, they'll just be made of nicer fabrics and fit better. On the one hand: They're just fingernails! On the other: Even as an evanescent acknowledgment that Griner's going to play basketball for a team that uses a lot of orange, the nails altered the perception of her personal properties, softening a hard (and seemingly hard-luck) woman. They also get at the current political complexity of sexuality in sports.
Right now, the media is conducting a comical stakeout of closet doors across all professional sports. For weeks, there have been rumors. One major athlete is going to announce he's gay! It's going to be Manti Te'o! Oh, he's saying he's not gay. Wait, a whole superteam is going to come out? Simultaneously! Instead, we got vacation photos of the former New York Jet and Arizona Cardinal Kerry Rhodes, happy with his arm around another man. But there was no kind of official word, only Rhodes's denials.
Last week was a pretty good one for Brittney Griner. She got a job playing for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. A few days later, she sat down alongside the nos. 2 and 3 draft picks — Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins — for a round of interviews, including a six-and-a-half-minute conversation with SI.com, during which Griner casually included herself as a gay role model for girls. If a moment could be both amazing and utterly "whatever," this was it. Maybe it was amazing for its utter whateverness. It was news, of course, and yet it wasn't. Birds didn't fall from the sky. Commissioner Gordon didn't need to flash the Bat-Signal. And no one even did that nervous-cough, "ahem" thing people do when they're mildly embarrassed or pleasantly surprised by a guest's lack of decorum at an important social function. It was as if Griner had answered a question about homosexuality in sports by saying, "Sporty was my favorite Spice."
Honestly, the most amazing thing Griner did last week wasn't even that visible. For both the draft and her SI.com interview — during which she wore glasses, a blue gingham shirt, and a dotted, ivory bow tie — Griner did something lots of women do, something that bestowed a bit of glamour to basic grooming. Brittney Griner painted her fingernails. In fact, she painted them a shade of orange that might have been awkward had she been picked up by, say, the Atlanta Dream instead of the Mercury. Doing your nails is one of those superfluous cosmetic flourishes that, on most women, is purely fun — if you're an American sprinter at the Olympics, it's the most fun of all.
But with Griner her orange nails were playful in a different direction. They feminized her menswear — she wore a fetching white tuxedo on draft night (the vests, the neckwear, the dress shirts, the slacks) — but they didn't sell it out. They defused her look, they delivered Griner's masculinity from drag, from performance, from posing into nature. They told you she's not playing or pretending with these clothes. She's just being. In 10 years, the suits and shirts won't change, they'll just be made of nicer fabrics and fit better. On the one hand: They're just fingernails! On the other: Even as an evanescent acknowledgment that Griner's going to play basketball for a team that uses a lot of orange, the nails altered the perception of her personal properties, softening a hard (and seemingly hard-luck) woman. They also get at the current political complexity of sexuality in sports.
Right now, the media is conducting a comical stakeout of closet doors across all professional sports. For weeks, there have been rumors. One major athlete is going to announce he's gay! It's going to be Manti Te'o! Oh, he's saying he's not gay. Wait, a whole superteam is going to come out? Simultaneously! Instead, we got vacation photos of the former New York Jet and Arizona Cardinal Kerry Rhodes, happy with his arm around another man. But there was no kind of official word, only Rhodes's denials.
More at: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9206043/brittney-griner-quiet-queering-professional-sports
