The Making of a WAG: Sexualization in Sports

The wives and girlfriends of professional athletes in the most popular and well-paid men’s sports can gain just as much fame as their significant others, for better or for worse. This begs the question: why is it that the same phenomenon does not exist among the husbands and boyfriends of professional female athletes? 

The obsession with WAGs originated in the early 2000s British soccer culture when Victoria Beckham, or Posh Spice, started dating world-famous soccer player David Beckham. Following the initial excitement over their relationship, her persona quickly became intertwined with his athletic performance. Despite her own fame, her potential to “distract” her husband from the pitch became the public’s primary concern, as any mid-match slip-up was quickly attributed to her. 

Tabloids followed Victoria’s every outfit, vacation, and sideline appearance, cementing her as the prototype for the modern WAG. Her influence helped turn the partners of male athletes into public figures in their own right, with style choices and personal lives scrutinized as much as the games themselves. The remarks did not just stop at fashion commentary; Beckham became a frequent target of sexist mockery and sexualized taunts, both in the press and from crowds at matches. One chant even included the line “Posh Spice takes it up the ass.”

By the mid-2000s, this fascination exploded into a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Since then, it has spiraled into an industry in itself, as WAGs use TikTok, Instagram, and even reality television to highlight their luxurious lives in the VIP box. Fans often treat them as an extension of the team, creating social media accounts dedicated to tracking what they wear, where they travel, and how they act at games. A sideline kiss or a supportive comment can become headline news, showing how every aspect of a WAG’s life is transformed into a public spectacle. 

Yet this visibility comes with a cost. WAGs are seen more as accessories than people—comment sections, news articles, and fan accounts comment on their bodies, style, and temperament. For male athletes, having a WAG often feels like the final marker of success—the ultimate symbol that they have “made it.” No matter how impressive their stats or achievements, public perception consistently rewards the player who has an elegant, youthful, and conventionally attractive partner. “Good” WAGs are often seen as quiet, elegant, and supportive, and, of course, must have the body of a supermodel. When a WAG does not seem to fit these standards, the public is quick to criticize. 

In 2024, Lauren Fryer, the long-term girlfriend of Arsenal footballer Declan Rice, was driven to wipe her social media accounts of their content following a frenzy of negative comments. Despite their heartwarming childhood-sweetheart storyline and the birth of their young son, Jude, fans urged Rice that he “could do better” and had “low standards” for being in a relationship with Fryer. This exact scenario has occurred time and time again, further demonstrating that the majority of a WAG’s value comes from superficial factors; her beauty and sexual appeal are treated as a reflection of her partner’s status. In this way, the sexualization of women is not just a byproduct of WAG culture; it is the foundation of it. Their visibility is dependent on how well they embody a specific, glamorous ideal, one that turns their identities into status symbols rather than individual people.

While WAGs have become inseparable from the image of male athletes, the reverse simply does not exist. The husbands and boyfriends of top female athletes rarely attract the same level of media or fan attention, let alone develop entire followings. There is no shorthand for “HABs”; they do not live in a world where their fashion choices or public appearances are obsessively tracked. This hinges on the fact that society does not glamorize men in proximity to powerful women the way it glamorizes women in proximity to powerful men. This imbalance reflects the broader inequity in sports: men’s leagues dominate the money and media attention, while women’s sports still fight for basic recognition.

This imbalance also reveals how both men’s and women’s sports are built to cater to the male gaze. In men’s sports, WAGs are glamorous extensions of male success and in women’s sports, the women themselves are sexualized. Female athletes’ talent is often overshadowed by commentary on their looks, outfits, or bodies. Because women’s sports already view women as objects of desire, there is no need to sexualize their male partners.

The dynamic that turns a WAG into a public figure depends on a hierarchy where men’s success elevates the women beside them; that structure does not work in reverse. The public has little interest in idealizing men as accessories or symbols of a woman’s power, because sports culture continues to treat women as objects of desire.
Ultimately, the WAG phenomenon exposes how the power dynamics of professional sports are deeply gendered. What began as a tabloid curiosity has evolved into a system that rewards the sexualization of women while simultaneously sidelining female achievement. Until sports culture values women for their presence on the field beyond their beauty beside it, the WAG will remain less a symbol of glamour and more a reflection of inequality.

Whitney Ford ’28 (wford@college.harvard.edu) and Olivia Lunseth ’28 (olivialunseth@college.harvard.edu) write Sports for the Independent.