Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham addressed being called a “sex symbol” during a recent interview with sports talk host Colin Cowherd, embracing the label rather than deflecting it.
Cowherd raised the topic hesitantly, telling Cunningham, “You are kind of viewed as the league’s … ummm,” before she urged him to finish the thought. He said, “Sex symbol.” Cunningham replied, “That is way better. I thought you were gonna go somewhere completely different.”
Cunningham then explained why she leans into that image. “For me, the reason why I really lean into that is, first of all, I’ve always been super girly. Since a little girl, I’ve always loved to dress up. I love dresses. I love high heels. I love all of that,” she said.
She argued that basketball culture has long implied athletes can’t be both feminine and competitive. “For some reason, our society, if you play basketball, you can’t dress that way, or you can’t be girly. No one’s ever said it, but it’s like, they kind of feel that you can’t be both. Screw all that,” Cunningham said. “Yes, you can. You can be girly, and you can go out and kick someone’s a**.”
Cowherd noted her reputation for physical play alongside her attention to appearance, saying, “You’re tough. You’ll fight anybody. You’ll taunt anybody. But you’ll make sure coming into the arena, ‘I look good and I want you to know I look good.'” Cunningham added that the reverse also holds: “You can go and dress a little more masculine and go out there and still kick a**.”
A Rising Profile in Indiana
Cunningham’s public profile has grown since she was traded to the Indiana Fever, a move widely framed around her role supporting star guard Caitlin Clark. That reputation was cemented after an on-court incident involving Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon.
During a game last season, Sheldon poked Clark in the eye, and teammate Marina Mabrey then knocked Clark to the floor. Cunningham responded later in the same game with a hard foul on Sheldon, resulting in her ejection.
This year, Cunningham also drew attention for a lengthy, silent finger-pointing exchange with Phoenix Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner during an altercation that followed a scramble in which Clark was struck in the throat by Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas. The moment was widely shared on social media.
Comments on Women’s Sports
Cunningham has also spoken publicly about competition in women’s sports, saying, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
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