Targeted Social Media Harassment: A Comparative Analysis of Toxicity Directed at Men and Women Sports Reporters

Abstract

Scholars and professionals have discussed that women working in sports media are often targeted by hateful rhetoric on social media. Through the lenses of hegemonic masculinity and online toxicity theories, this study examines X (formerly known as Twitter) mentions directed at both men and women sports reporters, comparing how men and women are harassed and how often. The study also uses a network analysis to examine toxic behaviors and communities directed at sports journalists. The sample of nearly 350,000 mentions was gathered over a 12-year period. Results show that while toxic posts directed at women were no more common than those that were directed at men, the content of the toxic posts were markedly different. The toxic posts directed toward men contained many sports-related themes, such as coaches, games, or team names. The toxic posts toward women were more likely to contain discussions of gender, sex, and sexual assault.