A sports star is embroiled in a high-profile domestic violence incident. The star is widely condemned — perhaps suspended, perhaps prosecuted. And there are calls for reform.
Or, in the case of the Women’s National Basketball Association: not. After two engaged WNBA stars — Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and the Tulsa Shock’s Glory Johnson — were arrested after a domestic dispute Wednesday, some are asking why the WNBA has not been scrutinized as closely as the NFL, the NBA and other professional sports leagues for what may be an endemic problem.
“Intimate partner violence among LGBT couples is also a huge problem that gets considerably less attention,†Jamilah King of Take Part wrote in a piece called “Women Pro Athletes Have a Domestic Violence Problem Too.†“. . . Last summer, they announced their engagement on Instagram. But as the details of this week’s ordeal emerge, the couple also shows that intimate partner violence within same-sex relationships is a problem that must be confronted.â€
Of course, one can’t equate domestic violence in the WNBA with domestic violence in men’s professional sports. Last year, ESPN counted 48 players “considered guilty of domestic violence under league policy†in the NFL since 2000, and Bleacher Report noted nine NBA players charged with domestic assault in the past three years. Even the most creative Googling for “WNBA domestic assault†won’t return numbers like these.
Still, the league is not immune from the problem. Though WNBA players in legal trouble are not covered as closely as male pro athletes in similar jams, there were reports that Jantel Lavender of the Los Angeles Sparks was hit with a restraining order by her ex-boyfriend in 2011 after a fight; that former WNBA player Deanna “Tweety†Nolan was arrested for allegedly assaulting her wife in 2012; and in 2013, former WNBA player Chamique Holdsclaw pleaded guilty to assault after her girlfriend, another WNBA player, reported Holdsclaw shot at her SUV.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/24/brittney-griner-glory-johnson-and-the-wnbas-domestic-violence-problem/