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Women’s Football Subculture of Misogyny: The Escalation to Online Gender-Based Violence
Fenton, Alex Ahmed, Wasim Hardey, Maz Boardman, Rosy Kavanagh, Emma
Fenton, Alex
Ahmed, Wasim
Hardey, Maz
Boardman, Rosy
Kavanagh, Emma
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Editors
Other Contributors
EPub Date
Publication Date
2023-11-07
Submitted Date
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Article - VoR
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Abstract
Research question: Given the worldwide growth of women’s football and its presence on social media, it is essential to explore and understand fan attitudes and culture.
Research methods: This article provides the first empirical social media netnography focusing on English women’s football teams (Manchester United and Burnley) and international fan views towards women professional players on TikTok. We extend this discussion by utilising a netnography in which researchers immersed themselves for seven months in women’s football groups on TikTok to gather and analyse new qualitative data in this context.
Results and Findings: We identify the escalation of gender-based violence on social media against women players. Four key themes emerged from the netnography: 1. Sexism: the place of women in football; 2. Misogyny and hatred of women; 3. Sexualisation of women; 4. Demand for a male-only space. Sexist comments were apparent in all the TikTok posts containing female football players, with some also containing more aggressive misogynistic comments. Other dominant comments sought to reduce women to objects of sexual desire and belittle their professional skills, whereas others were appalled at the presence of female players on the clubs’ official accounts, demanding them to be a male-only space.
Implications: The study contributes to the understanding of online fan cultures on complex, video-based platforms such as TikTok. Through literature review and netnography, we identified a problem for football clubs on social media of longstanding, problematic issues of toxic fan comments.
Citation
Fenton, A., Ahmed, W., Hardey, M., Boardman, R., & Kavanagh, E. (2024). Women’s football subculture of misogyny: The escalation to online gender-based violence. European Sport Management Quarterly, 24(6), 1215-1237. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2270566
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Journal
European Sport Management Quarterly
Research Unit
DOI
10.1080/16184742.2023.2270566
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Type
Article
Language
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1618-4742
EISSN
1746-031X