Retired WNBA star says she was bullied and attacked by fellow players because she was STRAIGHT

[pwaldo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-STRAIGHT.html

Candice Wiggins, who retired abruptly from the New York Liberty last March, said she had hoped to play another two seasons in the WNBA but could no longer cope with the 'toxic' culture.

'Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge,' Wiggins told the San Diego Union Tribute. 'I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply.'

'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. The message was: 'We want you to know we don't like you.''

'My spirit was being broken,' she added.

Wiggins, the No. 3 overall draft pick out of Stanford in 2008 who went onto play for four different WNBA teams, was speaking ahead of the release of her autobiography 'The WNBA Diaries.'

The retired basketball star has set her sights on a new career, pro-volleyball, a sport which she claims is a 'celebration of women and the female body as feminine, but strong and athletic.'

'It's really the culture I'm signing up for. This is really who I am.'

She insists the WNBA encouraged its women to look and act like men in the NBA.

[Nostalgykone]

Maybe she's just not a good teammate or personality.

[doniceage]

Maybe she's just not a good teammate or personality.

What does this have to do with being bullied by other players who were not straight? Just asking for clarification.

DON

@nostaigykone

[Nostalgykone]

What does this have to do with being bullied by other players who were not straight? Just asking for clarification.

DON

@nostaigykone

There's more than one side to every story. That's all I'm saying.

[Nostalgykone]

You have to question the merit of her allegations when she says that 98% of the women in the WNBA are gay. That's unfair, and likely very inaccurate. She's perpetuating a stereotype. That ​is the definition of toxic.

[doniceage]

You have to question the merit of her allegations when she says that 98% of the women in the WNBA are gay. That's unfair, and likely very inaccurate. She's perpetuating a stereotype. That ​is the definition of toxic.

I would agree with that number being inaccurate. The thing is she should not be getting harassed for being straight. I look forward to see the follow up

DailyMail.com has reached out to the WNBA and the New York Libertys for comment

Don