Originally started by black rappers and then popularized by wrestler John Cena, the gesture is usually a way of saying “I did that” or “You can’t see me.”
BATON ROUGE, La. — When LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese realized just seconds before the end of the March Madness game against Iowa that she and her team would be the ones lifting the national championship trophy, she made a trash gesture. Reese made the “You can’t see me” hand gesture towards her opponent Caitlin Clark.
Originally started by black rappers and then popularized by wrestler John Cena, the gesture is usually a way of saying “I did that” or “You can’t stop me.” Cena uses it to say he’s too fast for his opponents.
Reese also pointed to her ring finger, suggesting a title ring was in her in the near future for the win.
Shortly after the gesture, many took to Twitter to criticize the 20-year-old. Both trolls and celebrities in the sports media world called Reese “classless,” “an idiot,” and threw expletives at her.
During the post-game press conference, Reese’s coach Kim Mulkey said she doesn’t even use social media.
“I looked at Alexis and said, ‘What did she say? and frankly I don’t care. I don’t waste time with all that stuff but it’s the world we live in but guys I’m too old, I’m too old to worry about all that stuff now if we do something or if she’s doing something that’s embarrassing The program, my coaches and my administrators usually help with that,” Mulkey said.
Mulkey has even pointed out that she used to talk trash when she was on the court herself.
Sociologists say the harsh criticism the basketball player receives is rooted in racism and sexism.
“What we’re really talking about is the fact that black women not only face racism, there’s a whole other one as well […] in these different areas where we experience racism and sexism, classism and other paradigms that simultaneously work to marginalize us comparable to white women,” said Dr. Andrea S. Boyles, sociology professor at Tulane. “There’s a whole story where that played out not only played out in US history in terms of white men kinda sped it up, but white women played a part in it too.
dr Boyles says misogyny was compounded by racism, a hybrid called misogynoir, by Moya Bailey.
“Misphobia continues to be an issue, but even within these hateful or somehow very sexist notions of women, if there’s a woman who needs to be protected or even idealized as innocent or defended in some way, it’s often our duty to white people.” women,” said Dr. Boyles. “What we see with Angel Reese is the fact that she reacted, which is what it is and America’s history, it’s typically a reaction to the slight or oppressive engagement of white people.
“Then she’s then identified in this stereotypical way or caricatured when she misbehaves because it goes back to these tropes, very racist tropes of who black women are.”
“She’s misbehaving, she’s not sophisticated, she has no class, somehow she introduced a flaw, unsportsmanlike things that weren’t extended to Caitlin when she first initiated this exchange.”
Others, like the director of Dillard University’s Racial Justice Department, Dr. Ashraf Esmail, point out that men talk rubbish all the time but nobody says anything.
“That’s all they do, no one says anything. They do it up and down the square, nobody says anything. It’s part of the game and I thought there was a double standard between men and women, why do they get so much attention,” said Dr. email.
Despite all the criticism, Reese, affectionately dubbed “Bayou-Barbie,” is ten toes down in her confidence, especially now with a national title to back up her trash talk. Reese took to Twitter to say, “And no. I don’t think it’s cute.”
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