Since the end of the Women’s World Cup, the US women’s national team has been celebrating in jubilant and brilliant fashion. They have chanted “equal pay!” from atop floats at a ticker-tape parade in New York City beneath showers of confetti made from shredded copies of their gender-equity lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation and appeared on a raft of chat shows, lending an unprecedented mainstream platform for their campaign of justice for women in football.
Their uproarious Instagram presence led by goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who has shared various moments from their celebrations in real time, has become the stuff of legend, stuffing any and all complaints back into the dark abyss of jealousy and sexism: that the American women are too bold and arrogant in expressing their happiness and political opinions on the pitch and off.
But not all has been shiny and flawless in the wake of the USWNT’s triumph, and it’s important to look at how the team’s identity is being co-opted by those with disingenuous agendas. Consider the veteran forward Christen Press, who took over the Instagram account for Barstool Sports during last week’s parade to share a few videos of herself and her teammates celebrating.
It was head-scratching that Press would partner with an outlet like Barstool, an American sports and men’s lifestyle blog that is extremely popular. Barstool has also been the center of controversy for recurring features including but not limited to “Guess that Ass”, “Guess that Rack” and “Grading the Newest Sex Scandal Teacher”. They are infamous for unleashing their army of fans, who call themselves “Stoolies”, on any person who deigns to criticize them. When Robert Silverman published a feature on their culture of vicious harassment and how their disregard for women’s work is unparalleled for the Daily Beast, his personal information was doxxed and he found himself the target of online attacks. So infested with racist epithets were reader comments at the bottom of Barstool’s posts, the company shut down the feedback section completely. As someone knee-deep in the industry, it is an outlet that I know to be toxic and that should be avoided.
Suffice it to say that Barstool is not a place that fosters positive discussion. A smorgasbord of vacuous, white dudebro-centered coverage is not exactly aligned with the inclusive, empowering messages espoused by the world champions.
How Press, a woman of color from a team that propagates understanding, love and unity, could align herself with Barstool is baffling. Earlier this year, the USWNT chose women who they honored by putting their names on the back of their kits. Press chose black feminist Sojourner Truth, a woman who showed us to look holistically at the world, understand the toxicity that affects it, examine it critically and act accordingly.
I have wracked my brain thinking about how this partnership might have been hatched. Of course not every player from a diverse group of 23 will be in lockstep socio-politically, but Barstool’s extended history of misogynistic behavior is so antithetical to what the USWNT represents it demands closer inspection.
It is possible that Press does not know of Barstool’s vile reputation. Perhaps she was totally unaware of the levels of casual racism and misogyny that fester and are regurgitated at Barstool under the guise of “anti-PC culture” or “satire”. It is possible that she was exhausted after a long, hard World Cup, and her PR team at EAG Sports Management advised her incorrectly based on a business model they deemed profitable.
Maybe EAG thought it was business not personal. But the USWNT has made it explicitly clear that their business is personal.
It is possible, if unlikely, that Press might have felt her presence could have positively affected a misogynist cesspool of trash. Or there is the chance that she was very handsomely compensated for her time.
All this is conjecture on my part, since Press has not addressed it despite numerous requests for comment from the Guardian and other outlets through both US Soccer and her personal handlers. Deadspin’s Tom Ley reported that Aaron Heifetz, the press officer for the US women’s team, seemed puzzled by the collaboration, admitting Press “does not seem like someone who would even remotely now what Barstool Sports is or follow them”.
The most difficult thing is to grapple with is the deafening silence. Were Press to say, “it’s none of your business” or “I didn’t know” or “I regret it”, it would help those of us that want to prop up the entire USWNT team and who support what they stand for. At least we would know.
The worst consequence of this undesirable collaboration is the way Barstool have used it in a transparent attempt to whitewash their misogynist past, holding it up as a denial that they are sexist and crude. Kayce Smith, a female Barstool staffer, declared that “The USWNT Loves Barstool”, co-opting a brand many women’s soccer supporters respect to wash away their own past. Even when their company president Dave Portnoy once declared: “Even though I never condone rape if you’re a size 6 and you’re wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?”
As a woman of color sports journalist, who supports women’s soccer beyond the stars and stripes, this was disappointing.
It is no surprise that Barstool Sports would appropriate this gesture and peddle a narrative that the USWNT, and thus women, “love” them. Rose Lavelle, has also appeared on a Barstool podcast in the past, and a number of prominent USWNT players follow the company’s Instagram account, including Abby Dahlkemper, Mal Pugh, Allie Long, Carli Lloyd, Ali Krieger, Ashlyn Harris, Julie Ertz, Emily Sonnett and Alyssa Naeher. A follow does not necessarily mean they promote or support their work. What’s that old adage? RTs are not endorsements.
Best-case scenario: Christen Press truly had no idea about what Barstool represents and her publicist is waiting for everyone to forget about this serious misstep.
But if Press is a “Stoolie”, while continuing to speak about intersectionality and feminism, I’m going to take a step back and hope that her team of advisors, friends and teammates can perhaps enlighten her. This is a moment for her and others to (un)learn. That’s what growth is. And we all need to do it.
There is no one way to justice, and the path of activism is wide. But rape apologia, white privilege, toxic misogyny and Barstool Sports are not things I associate with the truth and justice the US team claims to fight for.
