Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham addressed how she is perceived within the WNBA during an interview with Colin Cowherd on his Volume podcast network, where she also works.
Cowherd, describing the conversation on X, wrote: “Just did a pod w @sophaller Never had a pod with an athlete that was this honest and authentic. Totally refreshing. I’ll release it tonight.”
During the podcast, Cowherd brought up how Cunningham is viewed by fans. “You are kind of viewed as the leagues…ummm,” he said, hesitating.
“Just say it,” Cunningham responded.
“Sex symbol,” Cowherd said.
“That is way better, I thought you were gonna go somewhere completely different,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham explained why she embraces that image rather than resisting it. “For me, the reason why I really lean into that is, first of all, I’ve always been super girly. Since a little girl, I’ve always loved to dress up. I love dresses. I love high heels. I love all of that,” she said.
“For some reason, our society, if you play basketball, you can’t dress that way, or you can’t be girly. No one’s ever said it, but it’s like, they kind of feel that you can’t be both. Screw all that. Yes, you can. You can be girly, and you can go out and kick someone’s ass.”
The comments come after other WNBA players have faced attention over similar issues. Last month, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese called herself “beautiful” multiple times on social media and said she looks good in a bikini, then said commenters were “sexualizing” her in response to the photos.
