Love this! We’re seeing the same thing in the racing world. There has been quite a bit of backlash that — while women and girls are finally making strides in the sport whether as drivers, engineers, mechanics, etc. — it is WAGs who are tapped for “women in motorsport” lunch and learns, panels, and social media campaigns. While they aren’t confined to the U.S. or American politics, they do often fall into the “seen, not heard” trad wife category. They’ve become so big online that Formula 1’s all-women junior racing series has begun to depend on WAGs for marketing, knowing a quick snap trackside will be one of the few ways the women’s racing series will make headlines.
Ugh this is SO GOOD!! 💥 Also I’m not going to be able to scrub this phrasing from my brain: “I’m glad she found a masculine man finally! …I’ll be married to my masculine man 28 years this June!” 🫠
Such a great read. Thank you. Just learned about Trad wives not too long ago and this just “colors” everything in more. I see so many bad takes about Black men athletes being married to white woman that demean Black women so much. I hope this reaches far and wide. Thank you for your work.
I appreciate that. There is so much nuance and analysis to be had about the racial dynamics of WAG-dom and I hope someone better equipped than I am to dive into them will do it! I saw an IG reel about the new Netflix show essentially saying “who would aspire to be the umpteenth baby mama of some dude” and found it to be such a gross and reductive response to the very specific cultural dynamics at-play in these relationships. Thanks for reading!
I’d be happy to write a piece about how most team owners aren’t great, either, because capitalism and billionaires etc etc. I’m working on something tangentially related to this point wrt to the WNBA
No kill fee, not ok! This is such a beautifully reported piece with so many layers. There is so much to process on all sides, and you do an excellent job bringing so many details to light for readers to consider and form their own opinions without demeaning bias. This kind of reporting is rare these days.
Love this piece / HATE that it was killed.
Thank you, friend 🙏
Came here to say this exact thing
Love this! We’re seeing the same thing in the racing world. There has been quite a bit of backlash that — while women and girls are finally making strides in the sport whether as drivers, engineers, mechanics, etc. — it is WAGs who are tapped for “women in motorsport” lunch and learns, panels, and social media campaigns. While they aren’t confined to the U.S. or American politics, they do often fall into the “seen, not heard” trad wife category. They’ve become so big online that Formula 1’s all-women junior racing series has begun to depend on WAGs for marketing, knowing a quick snap trackside will be one of the few ways the women’s racing series will make headlines.
This is wild! Thank you for sharing.
some of the current F1 WAGS i've never even heard speak - it's very dystopian
Ugh this is SO GOOD!! 💥 Also I’m not going to be able to scrub this phrasing from my brain: “I’m glad she found a masculine man finally! …I’ll be married to my masculine man 28 years this June!” 🫠
i thought the same thing, yuck
Boooo to killing a piece that was ready to go without a kill fee!
absolutely ADORE this frankie (infuriating that it was killed!!!!!)
This piece was amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Such a great read. Thank you. Just learned about Trad wives not too long ago and this just “colors” everything in more. I see so many bad takes about Black men athletes being married to white woman that demean Black women so much. I hope this reaches far and wide. Thank you for your work.
I appreciate that. There is so much nuance and analysis to be had about the racial dynamics of WAG-dom and I hope someone better equipped than I am to dive into them will do it! I saw an IG reel about the new Netflix show essentially saying “who would aspire to be the umpteenth baby mama of some dude” and found it to be such a gross and reductive response to the very specific cultural dynamics at-play in these relationships. Thanks for reading!
A very well written piece. Thanks for writing and sharing it.
spot on, all of this
This was a great read. The tradwives thing is fascinating to me but had not considered this angle.
Excellent piece. Thank you.
This makes so much sense. And had never crossed my mind.
I, for one, would like to read / know more about female team owners, like the Lions’ Sheila Ford Hamp, than about quarterbacks’ girlfriends …
I’d be happy to write a piece about how most team owners aren’t great, either, because capitalism and billionaires etc etc. I’m working on something tangentially related to this point wrt to the WNBA
thank you so much for putting into words why the whole phenomenon of wags makes me so viscerally uncomfortable
This article needs a barf bag warning. Solid read, right on the nose!
No kill fee, not ok! This is such a beautifully reported piece with so many layers. There is so much to process on all sides, and you do an excellent job bringing so many details to light for readers to consider and form their own opinions without demeaning bias. This kind of reporting is rare these days.