But as the objects kept coming, it got less and less funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More players spoke out in anger and frustration, explaining the stunts were a distraction from the game and a danger to the athletes on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone that\u2019s out here making wild jokes, laughing on networks and socials, and making cruel comments is weird and whack,\u201d Seattle Storm guard Brittney Sykes tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Story \u201cARENA SECURITY?! Hello??! Please do better,\u201d New York Liberty player Isabelle Harrison said on X<\/a>. \u201cThrowing ANYTHING on the court is so dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n As someone who writes about the intersection of sports and LGBTQ+ culture, I\u2019ve been watching the story unfold but hesitated to write anything about it because there was a nagging question I couldn\u2019t shake, one that would determine exactly how I felt about this story: Who was throwing the sex toys?<\/p>\n To be clear, I don\u2019t think it was a funny prank regardless of who was doing the throwing, as it both sexualizes and endangers athletes while they are at work. But the dynamic of power is wildly different between queer women fans of the WNBA throwing sex toys onto the court, and men throwing sexual objects at a women\u2019s sporting event.<\/p>\n This past week, that question was answered when two arrests were made and a cryptocurrency group came forward to accept responsibility<\/a> for the stunts. Delbert Carver<\/a>, 23, of Marietta, Ga., was arrested Aug. 1 for allegedly throwing a green sex toy onto the court during the Dream\u2019s home game against the Phoenix Mercury. <\/p>\n Carver also confessed to throwing the sex toy at the July 29 game against the Valkyries, as well, though the cryptocurrency group denies that Carver is affiliated with them and claims he didn\u2019t throw the first toy. An 18-year-old man, Kaden Lopez<\/a>, was arrested at PHX Arena in Phoenix during the Mercury-Connecticut Sun game for throwing a green sex toy into the stands.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was more or less like an opportunistic approach to, you know, what is already trending,\u201d an anonymous member of the group told ESPN to describe their reason for targeting the WNBA. \u201cWhere is there already controversy and how do we intercept some of that attention?\u201d He also told ESPN that they \u201cwanted to really make memes funny again.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Story But there is nothing funny about a group of men exploiting a women\u2019s sports league for their cryptocurrency scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, people are already financially benefitting from the stunt, with Crypto-based prediction markets allowing users to make bets on whether there will be a sex toy-based disruption<\/a> at games. By using the sex toy to make their point, the stunt becomes more than just an annoyance or a danger during play \u2014 it becomes a sexualized threat to the women on the court, an allusion to violence that can keep them in their place.<\/p>\n A man throwing a sex toy shaped like a male anatomy at a women\u2019s sporting event is perpetuating rape culture, plain and simple.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been going on for centuries, the sexualization of women,\u201d Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told the media<\/a> earlier this week. \u201cThis is the latest version of that. And it\u2019s not funny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t do this because \u2026 we dislike women\u2019s sports or, like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous,\u201d a representative for the crypto group told USA Today<\/a>. \u201cCreating disruption at games is like, it happens in every single sport, right? We\u2019ve seen it in the NFL, we\u2019ve seen it in hockey, you know \u2026 fans doing random things to more or less create attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately for him, just because the group\u2019s intention may not have been to sexually harass WNBA players, the impact remains the same. By exploiting women\u2019s space in a sexually charged way and non-consensually throwing an object that could also easily have hurt a player, these men are asserting power and dominance in a space that actively de-centers them. <\/p>\n Not only that, they chose an item that is associated with women, lesbians and lesbian sex, adding a homophobic wrinkle to it, as well as threats of corrective rape<\/a>. And now, as security tightens at arenas across the league, they have potentially endangered gay and trans fans, who may be packing under their clothing for gender affirming reasons and could now be subjected to more intrusive searches at the doors.<\/p>\n Related Story![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157018300-e1718634593210.jpg\"\/)
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