Battling bigotry
Women's basketball takes it to the hoops
By Pat
Chin
Women's basketball fever is sweeping the United States as
the Women's National Basketball Association's top teams battle
each other for the championship--the third since the WNBA was
launched in 1997.
WNBA players, who are mostly of African descent, compete in
the heartland of capitalist exploitation with its entrenched
racism, sexism, and anti-lesbian and trans oppression. Within
this economic matrix, professional sports are reduced to a
commodity tied to amassing huge profits for franchise owners
and corporate sponsors.
WNBA athletes are professional sportswomen but they are
still part of the working class. While some athletes earn more,
like other workers their labor power is exploited by the
wealthy owners of the teams, as well as by the advertising and
media giants. And their high-earning years are limited to the
few years they are able to play.
In addition, the women are paid far less than male athletes
because of sexism.
In November 1998 they voted overwhelmingly to join the
National Basketball Players Association. Five months later, a
four-year collective-bargaining agreement won the players
increased salaries, year-round health and dental coverage, paid
maternity leave and retirement benefits, among other
things.
The labor contract, which will help limit the exploitation
endemic to sports played for profits, was the first in women's
professional team sports in the United States.
Women started playing basketball in 1892, less than a year
after it was invented for men. Since then, the women's game has
come a long way. Gone are the watered-down rules to prevent
"nervous fatigue." And the floor-length uniforms of the past
have been trashed for outfits similar to those worn by male
basketball players.
The popularity of women's basketball has surged
astronomically since the first WNBA game. Women have proven
that, given a chance to develop, they can dazzle fans with
speed, skill, agility and forceful competitive play. In fact,
four new teams are set to join the league next year, boosting
the total to 16.
A growing number of young girls and even toddlers, as well
as various celebrities, can be seen in the stands cheering
their teams. Breast cancer awareness is vigorously promoted.
Camaraderie is often displayed not only among teammates but
across opposing sides in striking shows of women's unity and
multinational solidarity.
Support from the lesbian community has been strong, most
visibly for the New York Liberty and the Washington Mystics.
But homophobia surfaced at the first All-Star game played July
14 before a sold-out crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Security guards reportedly ordered about two dozen women to
remove a "Lesbians for Liberty" banner they held aloft.
"No one wants to talk about who's filling the stands,"
countered Liberty season-ticket holder Teresa Cooper. "A lot of
the WNBA's unexpected success is due to a little cult of dykes
who go to games over and over. But to hear the WNBA tell it,
professional women's basketball is all about `family.'"(New
York Blade News, Aug. 13)
Loss of a champion
Women's basketball lost a great champion Aug. 19 when Kim
Perrot of the Houston Comets died following a six-month battle
against lung cancer.
A Louisiana native, Perrot had joined the Comets in 1997.
Before then she played for three years in Europe where many
talented U.S. athletes went to find work before the WNBA was
formed. This contrasts with men's professional basketball with
its mega-bucks infusion of capital.
At 5 feet 5 inches and 130 pounds, Perrot faced many
obstacles as a woman hoop player. But this did not stop her
from setting many records, some of which remain
unsurpassed.
Because of her skilled and ferocious play with the Comets,
Perrot's popularity surged. As point guard she led her team to
consecutive championship victories in the WNBA's first two
seasons.
Only 32, Perrot made one of her last public appearances June
22 to accept her second championship ring during a Comets home
game. Despite her illness, she had made numerous public
appearances talking to young people.
"I encourage you young women to follow your dreams," she
wrote in her last column for the Houston Chronicle's youth
supplement, Yo! "It will take a lot of hard work and
determination, but there are no limits to what you can do."
At Perrot's memorial held in Houston Aug. 23, Comets leader
Cynthia Cooper said Perrot's unselfish spirit and love of
people was what distinguished her. "The reason she touched so
many lives is because Kim had a courageous heart," added
Cooper, two-time winner of the WNBA's Most Valuable Player
award.
The Houston Comets, title-holders for two consecutive
seasons, and the New York Liberty will face off for the third
WNBA championship title in final playoffs starting Sept. 2.
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