WNBA fans react in disgust to news that men are betting on players’ menstrual cycles
In a development that has sent a collective shudder through the world of women’s sports, a deeply invasive and unscientific trend has emerged from the murky corners of online gambling: men are placing bets on WNBA players' performances based on speculative tracking of their menstrual cycles. This practice, which fans have rightly condemned as demeaning and grotesque, reduces elite athletes to little more than biological variables in a crude betting model.The tactic, peddled by anonymous tipsters like the Instagram account FadeMeBets to its 29,000 followers, operates on the archaic and medically dubious assumption that a player’s efficiency—measured by points, assists, and overall court impact—plummets during the late luteal phase, the days preceding menstruation. In a now-viral video dissecting New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart, the tipster confidently urged his audience to bet the ‘under’ on her scoring, attributing a potential dip in her legendary endurance and strength to her cycle with the chillingly casual term 'blood money.' The social media backlash was swift and visceral, a chorus of disgust echoing across platforms like X and Reddit, where users labeled the behavior a new low in toxic fandom, questioning both the ethics and the very feasibility of such a personal intrusion. One commentator aptly noted, 'women aren’t horses,' a stark rebuttal to any attempt to frame this as mere statistical analysis.The tipster himself, in a conversation with Wired, admitted the lack of scientific rigor, revealing a methodology that involves retrospectively correlating fluctuations in field goal percentages and plus/minus stats over a hypothetical 24 to 38-day cycle, all without ever speaking to a single player. This confession lays bare the profound violation at play: it is a fantasy of control and prediction built on the most intimate of guesswork, a digital form of voyeurism masquerading as analytics.The implications stretch far beyond the basketball court, touching upon longstanding issues of how society poles and politicizes women's bodies, even in arenas of peak professional achievement. Historically, menstruation has been weaponized to exclude women from public life, from the workplace to athletic competition, and this new betting scheme is a disturbing 21st-century incarnation of that same prejudice, now monetized through online gambling platforms.Dr. Amy West, a sports medicine physician, effectively dismantled the entire premise, emphasizing the vast individuality of menstrual cycles, which vary not only from person to person but from month to month, making external prediction by a stranger 'kind of silly.' Yet, the damage is done. This episode highlights a darker side of the WNBA's surging popularity, where increased visibility attracts not only genuine fans but also speculators seeking to exploit the league and its players in novel, dehumanizing ways.It raises urgent questions about the responsibilities of sportsbooks and social media platforms in policing such content and the need for a broader cultural conversation about respect, bodily autonomy, and the insidious ways misogyny adapts to new technologies. The gamblers may see this as a edge, but for everyone else, it’s a stark reminder that the fight for women in sports is not just about equal pay or airtime, but about the fundamental right to compete without being reduced to their biology.
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