Introduction

This chapter gives a brief history of the trajectory of the league following its inception in 1997, from its initial popularity and rapid expansion (and subsequent contraction), to its slow rebuild from the doldrums of the early 2000s pessimism for its survival. From its unsustainable beginning, the WNBA has developed into a stable, growing league, and there has been a new wave of optimism as to where the WNBA could go from here. The introduction sets up my argument that most of this positive change in the WNBA is a direct result of the players’ refusal to just be grateful that a women’s league exists, and their consequent demands for the league to improve. Furthermore, I will briefly examine the work of other sports feminists to set up the theoretical and conceptual basis of my work, drawing on the insights of feminist new materialism, sporting embodiment, and the work of Black feminist thinkers. Finally, I will outline and justify my methodology, which includes ethnographic research with a WNBA team, media and literary analysis—particularly of the players’ own construction of their mediated self, including autobiographical texts—and archival research.