On June 22, in the second quarter of a Fever–Mercury game, Sophie Cunningham pointed at DeWanna Bonner while arguing a technical-foul call involving Caitlin Clark. A front-facing clip posted the next day drew tens of millions of views; within a week the point was a reaction meme across TikTok and Instagram. “It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Cunningham said on her podcast on June 27. “All I was doing was literally pointing.”
The point had a market. Cunningham — who gained more than 500,000 followers after a viral flagrant foul in 2025, and whose endorsement deals reportedly exceed $1 million a year — moved to sell merchandise of the meme until the players’ union barred it. “That moment last year, that was feisty,” she said on a podcast appearance this summer, of the foul that first made her famous. “It worked in my favor last year.” And: “I know that if you use this platform, you can, once the ball stops bouncing, you’re setting yourself up for success,” because “we don’t make enough money to retire and not do anything once we’re done.”
On July 21, ESPN published a profile of the newly famous Cunningham, in which she addressed the “MAGA Barbie” nickname: “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” The next day she stood by it: “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense.” The U.S. Department of Education posted her meme with a crown photoshopped on: “Common sense prevails 👑.” Three days after the profile, Adidas released her player-exclusive colorway; it sold out within hours.
Then the question started traveling. Over the next two weeks it was put, at podium after podium, to Fever coach Stephanie White, to Golden State’s Natalie Nakase, to Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve — and, repeatedly, to Caitlin Clark, whose refusal to answer it became its own national story. That two weeks — the rallies trailing the Fever’s road trip, the fined owner, the pile-on against Clark for answering nothing — is documented in Thursday’s column. By Monday, the conservative Christian advocacy group Concerned Women for America was demanding the WNBA adopt a policy “that establishes only biological women can play basketball in the league.” No publicly known transgender woman has ever played in the WNBA.
This week the question jumped leagues. At the National Bank Open, tennis reporters began asking players where they stood — and the tour they play on had, quietly, already answered. Since July 1, the Women’s Tennis Association has required every player to submit to a one-time genetic sex test — an SRY gene screen, by cheek swab or blood sample, with a positive result ending a player’s eligibility unless she documents Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or another qualifying difference of sexual development. The WTA posted the policy to its website only after reporters obtained it, without a press release. Nor was tennis the first quiet mover: the National Women’s Soccer League — which confirms it has no transgender players — dropped its own trans-participation policy in early 2022 without announcement, and weathered an op-ed fight over “gender standards” last fall; World Boxing made genetic testing mandatory in May 2025, with Imane Khelif’s name in the announcement — apologizing later for the name, not the test.
Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, backed the policy: “I think it’s really important to keep the fairness in our tour. It’s obvious that biologically the men are way stronger than women, so I feel like it would be not really fair for the woman to compete against biological men.” And: “If they want to test us all, I’m happy to do that, it’s pretty fair, and let’s keep it that way.” OutKick, the Fox-owned conservative sports site, posted the clip: “Thank you, Aryna Sabalenka, for standing up.”
Elena Rybakina, the world No. 2, said: “I don’t know what to comment. If we got to do it, we will do it. For me, I won’t say it’s unnecessary, but I think it was, without these tests, also fine.”
Coco Gauff answered at length: “I understand the reasoning behind it. I do think that this kind of conversation has created a lot of animosity towards the trans community, which I’m not really a big fan of. But I also understand the biological difference and the need to protect that and preserve that… I guess I kind of agree with trying to protect the fairness in women’s sports, but I also do not like the attack that it is creating. People who don’t really care but just want to use this as an excuse to attack the trans community — I’m not really a big fan of that either… I definitely support the trans community, but I also support the need of creating fairness in sport too.” Within hours, Jennifer Sey — founder of the anti-trans-inclusion apparel brand XX-XY Athletics — reposted the last sentence alone: “Translation: I don’t want men in women’s sports but I’m scared to say it outright… Pick a lane Coco.”
The mandatory test has an Olympic history. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, SRY screening of 3,387 women athletes flagged eight — all eight were cleared to compete. The International Olympic Committee abandoned universal sex testing in 1999, a step the American Medical Association and the IOC’s own Athletes’ Commission had urged. Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American and a member of the WTA Players’ Council, said she thought the tour based its policy on what it had seen from other sporting organizations, and that testing is expected to begin at the Cincinnati Open.
Cunningham is now backpedalling — from the fight, if not the position. In late July, she told reporters the rallies and the argument did not concern her as a distraction. On August 5 she told USA Network: “It just makes me sad that all this kind of drama… is getting overshadowed, that the basketball is getting overshadowed.” And: “I think there’s room for absolutely everybody. We don’t always have to agree, but that respect and love definitely has to be there.” At practice the next day she said: “I know that people are not always going to align and agree … but I think the most important thing is having that respect, having that love, and pursuing peace in these conversations.” The WNBA’s press corps, she added the same week, should cover more basketball: “we got to keep the main thing the main thing.”
The question did not stop. On Thursday it reached Gabby Williams, the Golden State Valkyries forward and two-time Olympian. “I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team, anytime,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a problem in the world.” Trans rights, she added, “right now, is our new battle.” By Thursday night, Jon Root, a sports commentator and contributor to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, had called her answer “certifiably insane.”
Testing begins next week in Cincinnati.
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