Men’s comments on elite women athletes: cultural narratives around gender and sport on Instagram

ABSTRACT

A documented disparity exists in media coverage of men and women athletes. Women receive less coverage and much of it focuses on stereotypes instead of athletic performance, undermining women’s sport and status. Social media, like Instagram, are user-generated and more interactive than traditional media and provide a space for alternative narratives. This study explored if, and how, conversations on Instagram about women athletes differed from traditional media coverage. A thematic analysis was conducted on comments left by men on Instagram posts by eight women athletes featured in the popular “Body Issue” of ESPN: The Magazine. Men’s comments were analyzed in order to facilitate comparisons to traditional media outlets (typically operated and authored by men) and illuminate the dominant cultural discourse. Comments (n = 1,540) on 22 posts were manually collected and coded by a team of researchers. Online comments responded to images primarily through the lenses of gender or athlete, similar to traditional media, and sexism was present in online interactions in ways that were similar to offline spaces. The discussion highlighted how racist, sexist, ableist, and heterosexist narratives play out in online discourse about women athletes, underscoring the need for intersectional theorizing in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Sports
• social media
• gender
• female athletes
• online harassment
• Instagram

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle A. Krieger

Michelle A. Krieger, MA, PhD. Michelle Krieger holds a PhD in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Windsor. Michelle’s research focuses on the intersection of technology and sexual violence, with a particular interest in image-based sexual exploitation and abuse.

S. Santarossa

Sara Santarossa, MHK, PhD. Sara Santarossa holds a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Windsor. Sara’s research examines the relationship between social media and gender roles, body image, self-esteem, eating behaviours, and eating disorders. Sara has received research funding at both the provincial and national levels, and was most recently awarded a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

S. Bours

Sarah J. Woodruff, PhD. Sarah Woodruff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, at the University of Windsor. Dr. Woodruff is a multidisciplinary researcher who strives to advance the knowledge surrounding various health behaviours.

S. J. Woodruff

Sabrina Bours is an undergraduate student in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Windsor. She plans to pursue mental health research with a focus on the physical health of adolescents.