Social media and the politics of gender, race and identity: the case of Serena Williams

Abstract

This study investigates issues of gender, race and identity, as enacted through social media, focusing on the abuse experienced by tennis player Serena Williams during the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. A netnographic analysis of discriminatory or abusive comments relating to Williams were collected from 24 sites on two social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are popular sites commonly used for fan/athlete interaction. Williams identifies as female and African American, therefore intersectionality is adopted to examine the representation of Williams in social media spaces. Several pertinent themes were uncovered relating to Williams including ‘Gender questioning’, ‘Accusations of performance enhancing drugs use’ and ‘Racism’. Such themes showed a simultaneous overlapping of multiple forms of oppression encountered by Williams, reinforcing the notion of the black female athlete as ‘other’ in virtual spaces. Such oppression is perpetuated by the online environment.

Keywords:

• Social media
• intersectionality
• abuse
• gender
• sport

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Gender and race, as used in this paper, are considerd to be social constructions which are produced within various forms of social interactions.

2 This ranking is correct as at the 10th March 2017. Please see wtatennis.com.

3 During this paper, the 2015 Wimbledon Championships may also be referred to as ‘Wimbledon’.

4 Davis (2012) explored the worth and usefulness of the concept/process of intersectionality. While she made several pointed arguments against the use of intersectionality in generalist research, her assessment concludes that intersectionality has the ingredients of a ‘good feminist theory’ as it encourages complexity and avoids premature closure which encourages new questions and exploration (Davis, 2012, p. 52).

5 It seems likely that Williams would have received significantly more abusive comments and tweets during this time period from other social media and online sports media sources.

6 Although beyond the scope of the current paper, it is acknowledged that in many professional sports, being black can be perceived as an advantage (e.g. track and field, basketball). However, tennis has not traditionally been one of these sports. Skin colour and success in tennis have rarely been linked. Additionally, there have been very few high profile and successful ‘black’ tennis players.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chelsea Litchfield

Dr. Chelsea Litchfield (Corresponding Author) is a Senior Lecturer and an Associate Head of the School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health at Charles Sturt University. Chelsea’s research focuses on gender, sport and media, predominately in an Australian context. School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia, [email protected], Ph: 612 63384481.

Emma Kavanagh

Dr. Emma Kavanagh is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology and Coaching Sciences at Bournemouth University. Her research interests focus upon athlete wellbeing, understanding abuse and (in)equalities in sport. Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow I Poole I Dorset I BH12 5BB, 01202 965221 (Internal 65221), E-mail: [email protected].

Jaquelyn Osborne

Dr. Jaquelyn Osborne is a lecturer in psycho-social dimensions of sport in the School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia. Her research interests are sport history and gender in sport. School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia, [email protected], Ph: 612 63384985.

Ian Jones

Dr Ian Jones is an associate professor in Sport at Bournemouth University. His teaching and research interests focus upon aspects of sport, identity and consumption. He is author of Research Methods in Sport Studies and co-author of Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Activity. Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow I Poole I Dorset I BH12 5BB, 01202 965164 (Internal 65164), E-mail: [email protected]