definitely something that complicates the role of WAGs is that the entire elite sports apparatus really does function on the unpaid labor of women… including but not limited to WAGs. at the youth level it’s the mother but at the elite level these men really rely on their female partners to do so much for them that allows their elite athletic lives to function. steven ortiz talks about this a lot in The Sports Marriage: that athletes choose wives that become their second mothers to do all of the things that mommy always took care of for them when they were boys. excerpts:
all this considered it makes sense why wags might consider themselves ‘women in motorsport’.
LET ME BE CLEAR I AM NOT SAYING THEY ARE.
but the way that this patriarchal sport functions and determines who is successful actually calls for the existence of wags, who see themselves as extensions of their partner’s career because being the partner of someone with that particular career is not just their entire identity, it’s also really the only way they spend their time. their partner’s career success relies on their existence—at least, that’s what they tell themselves.















