Mother Jones' WNBA 'trans panic' story shows what happens when activism masquerades as journalism

Mother Jones wants you to know XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey is making money.

It really, really wants you to know.

Madison Pauly's headline does the work before readers even reach the first sentence: "The Woman Profiting Off the WNBA's Trans Panic." You see, Mother Jones wants you to think Sey isn't simply a woman who believes males shouldn't compete in women's sports and runs a company built around that position.

In Pauly's telling, she's "profiting," and the underlying disagreement isn't a legitimate debate over sex-based sports categories.

It's a "panic." WOMEN’S SPORTS MEDIA OUTLET BACKS TRANS ATHLETES, THEN AVOIDS QUESTIONS FROM REPORTER WHO DISAGREES Then look at how the people involved are described.

Those who oppose males in women's sports are repeatedly called "anti-trans activists" or tied to "MAGA trolls." The other side gets very different treatment.

Those people are scared and just want to feel safe.

The WNBA is described as a sanctuary that is being taken away from them.

This isn't the first time Pauly has gone looking for a grift when someone opposes males in women's sports, either.

Last year she wrote a Mother Jones investigation titled "How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire." The accompanying podcast was called "All-American Grift" and asked who was "funneling money" into Gaines' rise.

Now Sey is "profiting off" a "trans panic." At some point, you have to wonder whether Mother Jones can even imagine that people might sincerely believe women’s sports should be for women.

And Pauly uses some of the same tricks in the Sey piece, including the way she presents "research." Sophie Cunningham told ESPN she wanted to protect young girls in locker rooms and female athletes who shouldn't have to compete against "biological men." Mother Jones calls that part of an "anti-trans panic" and responds that research indicates transgender people are "far more likely to be the victims of violence, including sexual assault." But that has nothing to do with Cunningham's argument.

Being at elevated risk of victimization doesn't tell us whether sex should determine access to female locker rooms.

Being a victim of violence and committing violence are two different things.