Since the introduction of the internet, communication has taken a whole new turn. We can now easily have discussions with billions of other people online, sharing our views and thoughts with the rest of the world. However, with the introduction of the new form of communication, people began to feel empowered as they were able to write whatever they desired—even anonymously—and not face any consequences. This practice is most commonly referred to as ‘trolling.’
Unfortunately, whether we would like to admit it or not, we are all guilty of writing/posting a vicious or offensive comment that we didn’t have the courage to actually say. Naturally, minorities and other select groups of people face more online abuse than others.
Not Just Sports, a web community devoted to all the things the sports world loves away from the game, decided to highlight the harassment that women in the sports industry face on a daily basis. To do this, they filmed real sports fans reading real online comments to the women sports reporters they were aimed towards – the experience was uncomfortable, to say the least.
Sarah Spain, a sports columnist, radio host, and reporter for ESPN and Julie DiCaro, a Chicago-based radio anchor who also writes for Sports Illustrated, sat down, face-to-face, with a number of male sports fans as they read hateful tweets.
Yes, we are all aware that people post insulting and insensitive things online. But how much damage can simple tweet really do? However, you may be shocked when you see the true extent of this issue – the men who participated in this experiment sure were.
The tweets threaten rape—”hopefully the skank Julie DiCaro is Bill Cosby’s next victim.”—and violence—”I hope your boyfriend beats you.” This is not ‘trolling’ this is online abuse, and it is a serious issue. The fact become evident when the men struggle read the abusive comments to the women who they have been targeted at.
“It serves as proof most sports fans would NEVER say these things to another person – so we shouldn’t type this garbage, either,” the website explains.
Women sports reports are just one of many groups of people who regularly face abuse online. According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, 73% of adult internet users have seen someone be harassed in some way online and 40% have personally experienced it. In fact, the harassment of online is at risk of becoming “an established norm in our digital society,” according to a new Australian study.
Image: Flickr, Esther Vargas
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