‘Skin crawl’: Why WAG hates common slang term

A popular WAG and a retired NFL player’s wife has spoken about the well known slang term used to describe the partners of sporting stars.

A popular WAG and a retired NFL player’s wife has spoken about the well known slang term used to describe the partners of sporting stars.

Kylie Kelce, who is married to retired Philadelphia Eagles great Jason Kelce, featured fellow WAG Kristin Juszczyk on her podcast Not Gonna Lie.

Ms Kelce asked Ms Juszczyk — who is married to San Francisco 49ers player Kyle Juszczyk — what she thought of the term ‘WAG’.

WAG refers to the “wives and girlfriends” of professional athletes.

“I personally do not identify as a WAG. First of all, I’m retired so I don’t have to anymore,” Ms Kelce said.

“I’ve always found there is a certain degree of a negative connotation with the term WAG.”

Ms Juszczyk called the term “tough” and “derogatory”.

She said the term puts a “ceiling” on women and she felt strongly dismissed when she started her business, with people calling it a “hobby” or “crafting”.

Kylie Kelce is married to former NFL player Jason. Picture: Instagram/@kykelce

“I take such pride in what my husband does and I love supporting him. It’s my favourite thing in the world,” Ms Juszczyk said.

“That’s not the only person that I am. I’m my own individual.”

She said the term WAG “makes her crawl out of her skin” and it always had. But, she said the women given that title are “doing a great job, recently, of redefining that word”.

“I mean, now I feel honoured. I try to,” she said.

Kristin Juszczyk is a fashion designer who is married to an NFL player. Picture: Instagram/Kristin Juszczyk

The two women discussed the term WAG. Picture: Instagram/Kristin Juszczyk

Ms Kelce said Ms Juszczyk was a prime example of doing the work to change the meaning of the word. Ms Juszczyk is a fashion designer who owns her own business where she custom reworks clothing. She boasts more than a million followers on Instagram.

Ms Juszczyk said it was important to redefine the term WAG, saying women were often the “backbone”.

“These women are often the backbone of these athletes, and they are making everything else spin so that they can focus only on their career and being successful on the field,” she said.

“So they should be praised for that.”

Ms Kelce said the women assigned the term WAG keep life spinning while sport is running, as they are two completely different worlds.

Originally published as ‘Skin crawl’: Why WAG hates common slang term