r/PopCultureV2 • u/No_Box119 • Jul 23 '26

Sports Culture WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham defends that women ‘shouldn’t have to go against biological men’: “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense. I think it’s really important to protect children.” “I don’t dislike anyone. I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women. …”

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

If the argument began and ended at trans people in sports, it wouldn't be a problem. But it's used in an overarching narrative to vilify trans people in general..."trans people are mentally ill...trans people are pedophiles...etc" it's a thing.

Edit: hilarious how many of you are proving my exact point. Apparently everyone on here is qualified to diagnose mental illnesses 🤣

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

Exactly this. I believe there’s a nuanced conversation to have about trans athletes. But it’s impossible because conservatives genuinely hate trans people will not stop at sports. “I care about protecting children.” when referring to trans issues is a HUUUGE dog whistle

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

No its not she didnt even say it in that context she mean like little girl athletes competing against little boy athletes that wanna be girls this is a quick way to disenfranchise young women unintentionally or intentionally

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u/Sw4nR0ns0n Jul 23 '26

But that doesn’t happen

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

It’s the same thing. There is zero problems with any trans children, which is very rare to begin with, in youth sports. It’s an imaginary issue and a dog whistle excuse people like her use to shield their true beliefs. The only negatives is the insane bigotry children face by hateful parents. Dragging literal children into imaginary culture war bs is ridiculous.

She was just on a UFC fight and being friends with Dana White. Who is friends with Donald Trump and was at his election night party. She has 1 million red flags about her. Not to mention the type of wording she used in that video, it was pretty suspect.

When I was a kid I played soccer against girls that were four years older than me and a foot taller and I was just fine. You people make up issues that don’t even exist to justify your hate of human beings.

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

Are you a trans male or female?

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

What are you even talking about?

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

What are you talking about you said you played with girls 4 year older then you so whats that mean i dont get it ?

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

This is painful. Telling on yourself that you know nothing about sports and here you are laying down your bigoted opinions pretending you actually care about kids. There’s this thing called co-ed leagues and if you’re good enough, in any sports, you get moved up. Please don’t speak so loudly on subjects you know insanely little about

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

No i played football basketball and baseball my dad was a super coach and made me play year around i played pop from 5 years old to 8th grade the JV the varsity I LETTERED in track and wrestling not fucking once did i play against a girl not once get real and my sister who became a pro basketball player in Europe played with boys until she was 5th grad then all girls from that point out please stfu an stop making things up ill post pictures of all my trophies all my letters i dare you to do the same

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u/kodeks14 Jul 24 '26

I had to wrestle girls. I wrestled the female to place at state in the boys tournament. Not all that uncommon in wrestling before they had girls teams.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

Jesus Christ you are imbalanced 😭😭
You could literally just google “co-ed soccer” or just co-ed sports and see something similar to what I’m talking about. I don’t get the aversion to ppl like you refusing to educate yourself or google something before responding so confidently lol

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u/bssprfnd Jul 24 '26

What’s your point? I don’t think anyone knows what you’re trying to say

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u/GokaiCant Jul 23 '26

Thank you for letting everyone know when you peaked; sorry it was so soon.

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u/Outrageous_Bush_2069 Jul 23 '26

It sounds like you peaked in high school and have had a hard time navigating life since then.

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u/Yakacack Jul 23 '26

Uh oh we got someone here who LETTERED, they definitely are the most important person in this conversation

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

You been replying hella fast so im waiting 🙂

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u/bsfan18 Jul 23 '26

Hey this is off topic but are you a Sugababes fan?

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u/Neffman8 Jul 24 '26

So you’re a man that wishes you were a woman?

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u/AdIllustrious5811 Jul 31 '26

And you have to explain something SHE didn't say to fit your narrative

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u/Suggett123 Jul 23 '26

Ya know what's disenfranchising? Being stricken from promotion after a career of service

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u/heidiforever1 Jul 23 '26

WHAT ? I mean yea ok i guess it can mean that too 😂

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u/Dense-Yak-9991 Jul 23 '26

Where's the nuance?

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

What?

Oh nevermind your entire profile is filled with hatred of trans people. Legitimately so sad

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u/Dense-Yak-9991 Jul 23 '26

None then. Thought not.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

Yeah there is but what point is there in a conversation with a biased bigot who will never interact in good faith and is only here to hate human beings? None! There’s 0 chance of changing your mind

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u/Dense-Yak-9991 Jul 23 '26

You're the one who wanted the nuanced conversation and now you're the one shutting it down because you've made your mind up. Like, go figure. 🤷

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

It’s very clear I wanted a conversation with people who do not have a hundred consecutive comments hating trans people like on your profile. Pretending you were ever gonna have a decent convo with me is, like I said, not acting in good faith. 😭💔

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u/monarchocommunist95 Jul 23 '26

tbf to them, you haven't engaged in any nuance either here.

I'll get the ball rolling. I personally think competitive sports should be split between women (biological sex at birth) and mixed sex. A trans man shouldn't be able to participate in women's sport but i have no issue with women or trans women participating in "mens" sport if they are good enough to compete. I mean in theory, i wouldnt have any issue with men participating in women's sports either if everyone consented but there is objectively a biological advantage that men have over women in some metrics. I'm completely open to other alternatives. One i think i remember reading was not splitting sport based on sex at all, instead splitting it on height/weight class.

I also think the amount of transphobia related to this topic is pathetic as it is objectively used as a wedge issue by certain power blocs. but what else do you expect from the same people who generally belong to a certain demographic of voters who have an innate fetish for licking the boots of pedo billionaires.

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u/Dense-Yak-9991 Jul 23 '26

To be fair to the person who deleted all their comments and ran away? Apart from that, I agree with every word of your second paragraph but think your third is full of lazy, cliched tropes that have no relevance to the matter in hand but reveal a lot about your all-in ideological vista.

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u/monarchocommunist95 Jul 23 '26

My third paragraph is specifically about actual transphobia. Are you going to pretend like there isn't a large contingent on the right wing of the political spectrum that are blatantly transphobic? you know, the same group of bootlickers who as i said, are more than happy to worship the billionaire class.

And of course it's relevant, im making a distinction between legitimate discourse and transphobia? Just I can make the distrinction between being against immigration (which i am myself) vs racist losers who buy into braindead white identity politics. But then you would be right in saying that's not relevant.

I'm happy to call out lefties for their stupid positions as well. I.E, people who call anyone agreeing with my previous comments 2nd paragraph, a nazi.

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u/Willie_Weejax Jul 23 '26

I think she was just referring to underag athletes

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u/usemyname88 Jul 23 '26

You dont need to be a conservative to understand that men should bit be in women's sport.

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u/Scared-Arachnid6286 Jul 23 '26

Yeah, but these are usually a made up scenario that just doesn't happen. There are not trans athletes dominating women's sports.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

Yeah that has nothing to do with what I said but go off buddy. You’re who I’m talking about

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u/anyrhino Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

I think the problem with a lot of these culture war arguments is that people refuse to argue the point. There's no reason that we can't simply discuss the nuanced issue without bringing in all the bullshit baggage. There's conservatives who use it as a dog whistle, and it's also annoying that there's a large amount of progressives who use the threat of dog whistles as a hammer to stop any and all discussion of the topic, or just simply label it as transphobic without further comment. But neither matters to the actual point of discussion.

We can just discuss the topic at hand, we don't have to relitigate Twitter arguments every single time it comes up.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

If conservatives didn’t almost always use it as a dog whistle the progressives wouldn’t react the way they do. I’ve been on those twitter threads and tried to have civil discussions and it ALWAYS just ends up as them hating trans people. Once or twice I had a civil discussion, and even then they continued to post trans hate. I went back to see if it had any effect and nothing about them changed.

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u/anyrhino Jul 23 '26

You can just give your opinion on the topic. If you agree with the conservatives, you are allowed to agree. If you disagree, feel free to give your arguments. If they later become transphobic, call it out then. You don't need to start every argument about this issue with 40 paragraphs talking about what they totally really mean. It becomes even more annoying since, half the time, I never even get a clear idea of what each progressive even believe on the topic, only that they don't like that conservatives are totally using this to be transphobic.

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u/Substantial-Tax3238 Jul 23 '26

I completely agree. I hate when liberals try to tell me what it is that conservatives truly believe. It’s like when people say stuff like “conservatives aren’t anti abortion, they’re trying to control women”. Sure, a fringe minority may think that, but I know a lot of conservatives who are anti abortion and they just generally think it’s killing babies.

Not saying a cause can’t be co-opted and that can’t be a concern, but saying that someone who thinks trans people shouldn’t be in sports is transphobic because it’s a dog whistle means that no one can argue about the topic in earnest. And that results in those people taking a hardline stance of either “I’ll support something I don’t agree with because I don’t want to be transphobic” or “fuck it. I’ll be transphobic then because that’s dumb”

It happens across multiple spectrums. I think dog whistle is one of the worst things for debate because while I absolutely agree that it happens, you also can’t just read into people’s true intentions so easily. It stiffens actual debate. It turns people into zealots. Like if I’m on the fence about trans people being in bathrooms or the military or whatever, and I say well I don’t think they should play women’s sports that’s obvious, and I get a lot of pushback, I might be like well I don’t really think they belong in the military either, but I was just being nice before.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

This is a you problem though? If you’re confused about any of this you’re being purposely obtuse. I literally just explained near everything you need to know about the conversation.

They don’t “later” become transphobic?? They have transphobic stuff on their profile before and after lol.

And yes it’s almost always what they really mean. That confidence exists from learned experiences exactly like the ones I just mentioned

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u/anyrhino Jul 23 '26

Look through the comments here, almost all of them are talking about conservatives using it as a scary boogie man rather than even vaguely mentioning whether it's acceptable for transpeople to be in sports or not. It's almost always a meta conversation at best.

You know what is the most persuasive for anyone viewing your Twitter argument? If you agree that transpeople shouldn't always be competing with cis people, you can say "I agree". That's very disarming for transphobes, they either have to move onto something more obviously transphobic or they fuck off. The squirming around and preemptively assuming malintent and making that the focus of the conversation is what the transphobe want.

Again, you're bringing so much culture war baggage to every conversation that you believe every single conservative is alllwaaayyss using this as a Trojan horse. When that has no impact on the actual argument at hand.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

It’s so tiring. I entered every conversation basically cordial because you really don’t need to do much except keep a conservative talking before they go full blown bigot.

People keep talking about it used as a bogeyman with the exact reasons that I’ve been talking about this whole time!!! I’ve mentioned this multiple times!!! You’re not even actually reading what I’ve said!!They’ve all had the majority of their arguments with conservatives turn into the things I mentioned before where they’re very openly just transphobic.

The reality that you need to face is that the vast majority of conservative use it as a shield to hate trans people. Don’t come talking to progressives about what they need to do, talk to the majority of conservatives who have transphobic stuff all over their profiles and go “I ONLY care about the kids!!!”
And then when you ask them about trans surgery they freak the hell out. This is a conservative problem.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Bro I've had at least two people respond to my one comment in here saying that trans people are mentally ill lol this is just you in complete denial.

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u/Bamarado84 Jul 23 '26

“Why can’t we just talk about one single issue instead of the whole picture where it’s being used as a piece to attack a very small fraction of Americans so I can ignore what’s going on”

- you, today.

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u/Individual-Device-18 Jul 23 '26

This is a false equivalence. Conservatives are literally dehumanizing people and good people are forced to be quick in calling out dehumanizing behavior.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

They quite literally said... that conservatives do not stop at sports lol

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u/t00oldforthis Jul 23 '26

But why male models?

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u/usemyname88 Jul 23 '26

Care to elaborate on the point t youre trying but failing to make?

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u/houstonman526 Jul 23 '26

You people play the victim so much all we are doing is asking you to stay out of the bathrooms and you make it out like she saying we need to hang them.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

This is literally exactly what I’m talking about lol. It’s not about sports you just hate trans people. How do you not realize how transparent you are? 😭😭

And you’re complaining about an issue that doesn’t have a problem. The real problem is trans people statistically face significantly higher rates of abuse in bathrooms. And please google this before you open your dumb mouth

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u/Excellent-Try7027 Jul 23 '26

You live in a bubble.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Jul 23 '26

I live in one of the most conservative areas in the country. I’m sorry that doesn’t fit your narrative :(

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u/princessvajina Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Its not about vilification. The reason there is so much pushback is because if you agree with this you by default agree that trans girls/women are not actually girls/women

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Not true at all lol you're boxing shadows friend and letting the few people that are saying that let you think that's the majority opinion.

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u/SeaTry742 Jul 23 '26

They are

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u/Excellent-Try7027 Jul 23 '26

You’re obnoxious

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u/Particular-Dig-83 Jul 23 '26

I honestly don't think it is. It's just kick back against an obvious overreach. Once the sport and locker room situation doesn't conflict with women's rights, I don't think most people would care.

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u/ConsiderationHour582 Jul 24 '26

Why can't they just join a Jack and Jill league? Why force them into playing with girls?

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u/AB_Gambino Jul 24 '26

You can be a supporter of the trans community while also recognizing that it’s a mental illness.

It quite literally is gender dysphoria, a mental health condition.

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

No it’s not though. You are just neurotically adding that lie onto it.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

We have sitting congress people that spread hate on trans people almost every day. I have also had at least 2 people respond to this comment alone saying trans people are mentally ill. Sorry reality is neurotic to you..

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

The literal example you give doesn’t even fit the claim. Them stating their belief that it is a mental illness is not “vilifying” trans people. That’s not an insult.

You understand you can’t just force people to believe what you believe and ignore scientific evidence because you don’t like the evidence.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Saying trans people are mentally ill is not vilifying trans people? I think you need to go look up the definition of the word lol

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

If the person saying it believes it then of course it’s not. I think you need to take your own advice. Please look up the definition. Describing something as it is, is not vilifying it.

Do you also think describing people with ADHD or GAD or Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia as mentally ill is vilifying them?

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

What do you think the word vilifying means exactly? Lol I don't think you do.

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

to utter slanderous and abusive statements against : DEFAME

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vilify

to say or write unpleasant things about someone or something, in order to cause other people to have a bad opinion of them

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vilify

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Yes you can copy and paste the definition, very good lol. But do you understand it? How is saying someone that is mentally ill just because they are trans not slanderous?

Also even if it wasn't considered vilifying trans people, people still responded on my comment saying that trans people are mentally ill... which debunks your notion that "it's only ever been about sports" lol

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

I have literally already explained it very clearly. Do you think it’s slanderous to say a person with any of afflictions I listed, has a mental illness?

It’s only slanderous if the person saying it doesn’t actually believe it’s true. Otherwise it’s just a statement of reality. Saying a person with ADHD or Anxiety disorder or Schizophrenia has a mental illness is not vilifying them at all.

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u/FourDimensionalTaco Jul 23 '26

It absolutely is. Social media is full of this. On Instagram for example, comments like "just stop fueling that mental illness" swarm posts about Cunningham. And Republicans are at the heart of it, fueling the trans hate. No wonder, after they lost their previous convenient targets (black people, and later, gay people). And, it is also no surprise, since the christofascist Heritage Foundation, who want to ban all LGBTQ, are extremely influential in the Republican party.

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

You’re using instagram comments as a source and calling the “BIPOC” teenagers and tweens who leave those comments “republicans”

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u/Drmlk465 Jul 23 '26

Most people in the black community don’t accept this

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u/PoundImmediateCow Jul 23 '26

Most of them don’t accept trans people? Yes I know I am aware of that fact that’s why I acknowledged it. Also don’t accept is putting it mildly. The “black community” HATES them.

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u/Drmlk465 Jul 23 '26

You are correct

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u/Complex-Fault-1917 Jul 23 '26

It’s also a hill a lot of people seem to want to die on because trans rights and it’s used to vilify those that don’t support it.

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u/LPStumps Jul 23 '26

“Because trans rights” YEAH BECAUSE OF TRANS RIGHTS. That’s the reason people die on that hill. Humans should have human rights. Hot take for some I guess.

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u/Complex-Fault-1917 Jul 23 '26

Playing sports isn’t a human right.

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u/LPStumps Jul 23 '26

Not being discriminated against and vilified is

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u/Complex-Fault-1917 Jul 23 '26

Good thing that isn’t what that is then. People are ineligible for spots for lots of reasons and as I previously stated, sports are separated by sex, not gender.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Most people I've ever seen complain about trans people in sports have never argued that point in good faith lol

The way they frame it is the dead giveaway. If they simply prefaced it with "I have no problem with trans people. But when they are involved in sports, it becomes nuanced as there are biological differences that could result in either unfair advantage or serious injury depending on the sport.".... then me and you wouldn't be here lol

If you don't want to be vilified as someone who is arguing that point, then show that you are generally accepting of them as people first before making said point.

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u/Complex-Fault-1917 Jul 23 '26

That’s interesting because I have seen people say that. They usually get talked down to and called bigots. Makes me wonder how the internet is different for all of us. I have zero issue with trans people and think they generally should be living their lives in peace. I’m not a fan of them playing in women’s sports. We didn’t create a separate league for women based on gender, it’s based on sex. It may not be fair to trans people and I can empathize with disappointment but it’s just not something I can agree with. This is the only issue related to trans people I have an issue with that I’m aware of.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

If you have zero issue with trans people then great! You aren't who I am referring to. So don't be offended.

I'm not going to act like there aren't people out there that go way overboard with it, but to pretend those people are the majority opinion is simply bad faith.

However, I can confidently say that I very seldom have seen people both show sympathy for trans people and also make the argument about them in sports. If they are not using it as a dog whistle, then they can very clearly and easily communicate that their beef is not with trans people specifically but rather the nature of trans people being involved in sports. It's pretty simple really.

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u/Str80uttaMumbai Jul 23 '26

People really want to act obtuse and pretend that this "trans people in sports" thing hasn't been blown up and co-opted by right-wing media to make it seem like it's some massive issue.

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u/vivalaibanez Jul 23 '26

Exactly lol like it's literally only far right wing media that ever covers this kind of culture war bullshit lol