Sex toys thrown onto women's basketball courts, Mariella Santucci: "Shocked and shocked. We need to reverse this act."

Late July and early August: launch season. But no rockets, no Armstrong, no Moon, at least not in 2025. The three flying objects that landed on the WNBA court between July 29th and August 5th are decidedly more mundane. Or rather, sexual. There's something about them, after all, of '69. In three different games—in Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles—three different sex toys (for the record: dildos) were thrown onto the court . Others, some spectators report, were "fired," but didn't reach the court, in New York and Phoenix.

Tasteless jokes, pranks, sexist objectification? The players' comments, along with the WNBA's legal response, condemn it. It's an immature , disrespectful , and dangerous act. And they're calling for greater security and enforcement.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Delbert Carver , who threw the first pitch during the game between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries on July 29, has been arrested and charged with indecency, disturbing the peace, and trespassing. The Valkyries were also involved in the August 2nd incident involving the second pitch. The third pitch nearly hit Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in a particularly dangerous situation.

Basketball player Sophie Cunningham was the victim of a sex toy thrown from the stands.

It's tempting to see the gesture as a symbolic attack related to the players' gender. But in the absence of words from those who committed the act, it would be hasty to draw conclusions.

Of course, someone might even recall—and counter—a similar launch , targeting a man in 2016. The “Dildogate” or “ Waitangi dildo incident ” that involved then-New Zealand minister Steven Joyce . A political, protestive, and satirical launch . An eloquent and uncensored commentary on Joyce's signing of the Pacific Free Trade Agreement. The perpetrator, in that case, was a woman . We are moving in two seemingly different fields: politics and sport. But what appears wins out. And whether it lands on a parquet floor or in a smoke-filled room, it's still a sex toy.

On Reddit , a popular online forum, some also see the episode as a chance to replicate a tradition with noble intentions: the Teddy Bear Toss . A practice pioneered by American ice hockey in 1993, which involves the tossing of objects (stuffed toys) , but which is supported by clubs and aimed at raising funds for charitable donations .

The Teddy Bear Toss has also arrived in Italy , specifically in basketball, in the A2 series . First with Acmar Basket Ravenna, then with Basket Brescia Leonessa, Pallacanestro Trieste and Reyer Venezia. In all cases, the funds raised were donated to pediatric hospitals or support services for families in difficulty.

Mariella Santucci , a Bologna-born point guard who played for the national team at the recently concluded European Championship, plays for the Serenissima. We asked Santucci what she thought of what happened and whether anything similar had ever happened in the arenas of the old one. "We 've never seen incidents like this ," she said. "On special occasions, with the club's support and at organized events, stuffed animals or gadgets are thrown for charitable causes, like the Teddy Bear Toss . Never anything with a dangerous intent."

In short, what separates and resolves the two situations is not the objects themselves, but the motive of the thrower and the context in which they are thrown . On the one hand, there are concerted, shared, declared actions with positive intentions. On the other, there are initiatives by individuals, with the only possible outcome, besides outrage, of causing injuries to the players. According to the Bologna native, born in 1997, it's also difficult, for the moment, to read political or discriminatory motivations into the throwing of sex toys: "It seems to me to be a completely meaningless gesture, and, moreover, none of the perpetrators have claimed any message." And she continues: "What I know for sure is that this is not acceptable behavior : for the safety of those who play on the court, for the respect of those who are working, and also for those who, unlike the throwers, want to watch the game with interest and in peace."

The reaction is exactly the same as that of the players in the United States: " I am shocked and disconcerted ." A solution? Transform "the provocation, the disrespect, the imbecility into its opposite. Reverse the gesture and make it, like the Teddy Bear Toss , a codified fundraising moment: for medical research for women . And also for the right to abortion , currently in grave danger in the United States. That would make sense, at least."