It's normal.
That's what most current and former athletes thought about Angel Reese waving her hand in front of her face and signaling towards a ring on her hand. The non-verbal form of trash-talking or trolling is familiar to contact sports like basketball. So why is Reese, in particular, being ostracized for normative behavior? Given the negative attention towards Reese and other Black women in sports, two things come to mind: race and gender.
On January 19, Reese blocked a drive from a University of Arkansas player while holding one shoe. In her competitive mindset, Reese delivered "a look" after the block that earned her a technical foul. Commentary after that game critiqued Reese's response, to which she tweeted, "'I'm too hood.' 'I'm too ghetto.' I don't fit the narrative, and I'M OK WITH THAT. I'm from Baltimore, where you hoop outside & talk trash. "If it were a boy, you all wouldn't be saying nun at all. Let's normalize women showing passion for the game instead of it being 'embarrassing." Reese clearly articulated her understanding of the cultural and gendered critiques she faced for being consistent in who she is as an athlete reared and socialized in a majority Black, urban environment where trash-talking and communication with your opponents during the game is accepted and expected. 
Dr. Tomika Ferguson
The racial, cultural, and gendered experiences that Reese illuminated back in January and again following winning the NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship challenge pseudo-boundaries regarding character and sportsmanship within women's sports. Reese is not the only basketball player who has faced backlash for trash talk within women's sports. Before the 2021 Prefontaine Classic, Sha'Carri Richardson posted an Instagram video mouthing Nicki Minaj's voice and saying, "It's game time, bitches." She told reporters, "Talk all the shit you want 'cause I'm here to stay. I'm not done. I'm the sixth-fastest woman in this game ever, and can't nobody ever take that from me."
Yes, Richardson faced much backlash from her commentary and the now-deleted Instagram post, but the impact is the same. When Black women are confident in themselves and articulate it in a way unacceptable to gendered decorum standards, they are shunned and told to focus solely on their performance.
