Memorandum
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- Caroline Mercer via FOX News
- Date
- Filed
- Society·5 min to read
- Re
Media Criticism Mounts Over WNBA Trans Coverage
ReMedia Criticism Mounts Over WNBA Trans Coverage
A conservative outlet accuses Mother Jones of framing a WNBA-related transgender debate as a manufactured panic, raising questions about advocacy in sports journalism.
A conservative media outlet is sharply criticizing Mother Jones for what it calls an activist-driven portrayal of the debate over transgender athletes in women's sports, using a recent WNBA-related article as its central example. The piece, published by Fox News' OutKick vertical, argues that Mother Jones reporter Madison Pauly framed the issue as a «trans panic» rather than a legitimate policy disagreement, and that the magazine's treatment of sources reveals a clear ideological slant.
At the center of the dispute is Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, a company built around the position that males should not compete in women's sports. Mother Jones' headline described Sey as «The Woman Profiting Off the WNBA's Trans Panic,» a framing the OutKick piece says preemptively delegitimizes her stance by casting it as a money-making scheme rather than a sincerely held belief. The criticism extends to how the magazine labels the two sides: opponents of male participation in women's sports are repeatedly called «anti-trans activists» or linked to «MAGA trolls,» while transgender athletes and their supporters are described as scared and seeking safety.
The OutKick article also takes issue with Mother Jones' use of research. It points to a 2026 JAMA Network Open review of violence against transgender and gender-diverse adults, which Mother Jones cited to counter concerns about locker rooms and fairness. The OutKick piece argues that the study's headline finding came from a small subset of collected studies with widely varying results, and that the researchers themselves warned the samples were not randomly selected and should not be treated as representative. Those caveats, the piece says, largely disappear by the time the finding reaches readers as a simple «research indicates» talking point.
Similar criticism is leveled at Mother Jones' treatment of sports science. Pauly wrote that hormone therapy «has been shown to diminish athletic performance, though studies vary on how much.» The OutKick piece counters that diminishing performance is not the same as eliminating male-puberty advantages, and that even the cited studies found some advantages remained after years of treatment. It argues that women's sports are a sex-based category, not a handicap division for athletes who can medically reduce their performance by an acceptable amount.
A significant portion of the OutKick critique focuses on a July 28 rally held before an Indiana Fever-Seattle Storm game, which Mother Jones described as a gathering of «anti-trans activists» and folded into a broader narrative about Sey, XX-XY Athletics, and right-wing politics. OutKick reporter Dan Zaksheske contacted Jean Chadbourne, who said the rally was her idea. Chadbourne told OutKick she decided to organize the event shortly after an ESPN interview with Sophie Cunningham, then reached out to Amy Sousa in the Pacific Northwest and later contacted Sey and Brandi Kruse.
Chadbourne described herself as a lifelong registered Democrat who previously worked in the reproductive-rights movement and with incarcerated people. She founded Women Are Real, a grassroots group she says is about 65% Democratic and includes a substantial number of lesbian and bisexual women. The OutKick piece argues that if the rally is portrayed as part of a MAGA-driven movement, the Democratic woman who helped launch it is relevant context — and notes that Mother Jones never contacted her.
The article further claims that XX-XY Athletics' role in the first rally was far smaller than Mother Jones' broader narrative would suggest. Sey could not attend, and Chadbourne said the women traveling from California paid their own expenses. According to the OutKick account, XX-XY did not conceive or fund the rally. The dispute highlights a growing tension in sports media over how to cover transgender participation, with critics arguing that some outlets blur the line between reporting and advocacy on a deeply contested cultural issue.
