For all the strides women have made in the market place, when it comes to sports, there is still a huge percentage of the male population that would prefer women not be there. Despite having the same, or superior, levels of education, writing abilities, and knowledge, women who work in sports media continue to be targeted for nothing more than doing their jobs.
On a daily basis female sports journalists are subjected to callous words of Neanderthals who managed to hit the power button without successfully electrocuting themselves without any fear of retribution. As soon as these brave women punch-in, they are greeted by a litany of tweets from cowards who want them to stop reporting on sports and “get on their backs” “get back in the kitchen” “should be raped” or “beaten” or even “killed.” Just for daring to have a career discussing sports.
How do I know? I know because I’ve been there.
I primarily cover the sport of boxing. As a black woman working in a niche sport, I stand out. Because I stand out, I’m an easy target for a number of online abusers. It doesn’t happen as often these days but in the beginning I was subjected on a regular basis to a double whammy of racist and sexist commentary constantly. In addition to receiving the “normal” dose of “back in the kitchen” “stupid and ignorant” and “why are you here” commentary I’ve been privy to flat out disrespectful responses on everything from my appearance and skin color from people I wouldn’t know if they walked up and rang my door bell for none other reason than liking sports. Not to mention the number of people within the industry that has offered me stories and information in exchange for sexual favors to which I declined only to see my stories published on other mainstream, male-headed, platforms.
To shine light on this real problem, the website Just Not Sports asked a group of men to read real hate mongering tweets
aloud and to the faces of female sports journalists Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro who handled the horrible words with the utmost grace and poise.
The next time you start writing that hateful 140-character response to a female journalist because your favorite player made a bad decision, picture your daughter, sister or mother on the other end reading it before you hit post.