“Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge. I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place,†Wiggins charged. “There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply. There was a lot of jealousy and competition, and we’re all fighting for crumbs. The way I looked, the way I played – those things contributed to the tension.â€
“People were deliberately trying to hurt me all of the time. I had never been called the B-word so many times in my life than I was in my rookie season. I’d never been thrown to the ground so much,†she added.
The retired player insisted that the message given by gay players was: “We want you to know we don’t like you.â€
“It comes to a point where you get compared so much to the men, you come to mirror the men,†Wiggins concluded. “So many people think you have to look like a man, play like a man to get respect. I was the opposite. I was proud to a be a woman, and it didn’t fit well in that culture.â€
She aspires to play on the pro beach volleyball tour and possibly the Olympics. She touts the sport’s camaraderie and its “celebration of women and the female body as feminine, but strong and athletic.â€