Attraction Does Not Equal Access
Let’s start today’s blog with an important qualifier: we do not know if this was actually posted by Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant in response to Sabrina Ionescu’s Instagram post. In the age of AI, edited screenshots, and fake quote cards, we have to be disciplined enough to acknowledge the possibility that it is fabricated.
But here’s the thing: even if it’s fake, I still think it is absolutely worth sharing with a group of male athletes.
Why?
Because someone in that room is going to believe it was posted by NBA players. And even more importantly, someone in that room is going to resonate with the sexualization of a WNBA star in the comments.
That’s the conversation.
This becomes a launch point to talk with your guys about catcalling, about online harassment, and about the dangerous leap from I find someone attractive to I have the right to comment on their body.
Attraction does not equal access.
Someone being proud of their body does not mean they are asking for over-sexualized comments in their feed.
Someone posting a picture of themselves does not create permission for you to turn their comment section into a locker room.
That’s the line.
And this is exactly where our guys are being trained every single day by the content ecosystem around them.
You can even go deeper into the comment section responses, where people start saying things like, “Sabrina’s husband would kick their ass.” That reaction deserves unpacking too, because even the instinct to respond through possessive protection can be deeply rooted in manbox thinking.
It shifts the conversation from respect for her autonomy and dignity to protection through ownership. That matters. Because now we’re not just talking about inappropriate comments — we’re talking about the scripts boys are constantly being fed:
Women’s bodies as public property
Male attention as normal
Protection as possession
Attraction as entitlement
This is the type of daily force-feeding the algorithm is giving our guys. We have to be willing to create spaces dedicated to unpacking it. If we don’t, the feed will educate them for us.
Coach Prompts
What are your players learning from the content they consume every day?
How do you talk about online harassment in your program?
Where does attraction cross into entitlement?
Player Prompts
What’s the difference between attraction and entitlement?
Why do some guys feel the need to comment sexually online?
Have you ever seen a comment section cross the line?
