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For generations, women have waged a relentless and exhausting battle for equality in sports. Women such as Billie Jean King challenged gender stereotypes about strength and women such as the players on the U.S. women's national soccer team fought for equal pay. Throughout all of this, I thought women in sports were a sisterhood because we understand the sting of exclusion, disrespect and inequality. So why, then, are women perpetuating the very same behaviors we fought against in the first place by accepting the hazing of rookie WNBA superstars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese?

My daughters, who are 12 and 14, play middle school basketball. They are big fans of both Clark and Reese. As a family, we recently watched Clark's Indiana Fever play against Reese's Chicago Sky. But when I witnessed Chennedy Carter shoulder-check Clark, sending her onto the floor, I turned the game off. In my daughters' faces, I saw confusion and fear.

The repeated hazing of Clark and Reese by seasoned WNBA players is disheartening to watch. These two women are not only trailblazers and role models, but also symbols of progress in sports. As a woman, I am compelled to question why we are perpetuating a cycle of mistreatment that we have long fought against in broader society.

These phenomenal young players deserve to be welcomed with open arms, not ostracized through outdated rituals. From Title IX, a landmark federal civil rights law in 1972 that prohibits discrimination against women in education including sports, to women registering as men to run the Boston Marathon, women have sacrificed immensely to create safe spaces in sports. Yet now, we witness WNBA players following a "rite of passage" that is steeped in the worst kinds of toxic masculine sports traditions — bullying, intimidation and sometimes physical harm that no longer make sports safe spaces. If this is what is expected of my daughters as they excel, then I don't want them involved in sports. By allowing hazing to happen at the professional level, WNBA referees, coaches and fans send a negative message to my daughters and other young female athletes that it is acceptable to be hurt and disrespected. If this is what we see on the courts during nationally televised games, then what happens when the television cameras go away?

I have watched hours of sports commentators — from people on the "The View" to Stephen A. Smith to random YouTubers — put their own spin on it. It blows my mind that so many people support the hazing, even justifying such behavior as a method to build cohesion in the team. But how can women justify violent behavior when it mirrors the same oppressive tactics used to keep women down in other areas of life?

Here's the truth: Hazing women hurts more. To see this happening within women's sports is a betrayal of everything we stand for. What's worse is Clark's and Reese's own teammates are not stopping it. Instead, they are sneering, laughing or ignoring it. Where is the sisterhood? We have a responsibility to each other as women. Women's shared history of struggle and triumph should be a source of unity and strength. Hazing is damaging the integrity and progress of women's sports.

I attended a private high school in the Twin Cities where I was more into speech and debate than sports. However, I joined the girls' athletic association because it was popular among my classmates. As part of our initiation, we were subjected to a hazing activity in the school gym. The upperclasswomen spent hours dumping eggs, shaving cream, honey, milk and other substances on us with the intent to humiliate. While pop and honey were poured into my hair, I witnessed a girl being forced to wear an adult diaper filled with Snickers to simulate feces. She sat in the soiled diaper for hours. Another girl had various parts of her body shaved while she cried. These weren't pranks, they were acts of cruelty disguised as tradition for ninth-grade girls.

The school administrators and teachers knew about the activity but did nothing to stop it. Watching what's going on with Clark and Reese makes me feel like I am in the ninth grade again, but this time I don't want to be a passive participant being dumped on. Instead, I want to stop this ridiculousness and violence and use empathy and knowledge to forge a more positive outlook for women in sports — a future where rookie superstars like Clark and Reese are not subjected to hazing. And a future where I don't have to worry about my daughters' safety.

Ka Vang, of Prescott, Wis., is a writer who grew up in the Twin Cities.