Is rooting for the US Women’s National Team un-American? Populism and popular misogyny within conservative digital sports media

Following Megan Rapinoe’s statement that she would not attend a White House visit under former president Donald Trump, she and the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) have become focal points of right-wing online abuse. To explore the connection between populist style common within right-wing media and the misogynistic treatment of women in sport, this study analyzes the intertwining logics of populist style and popular misogyny within media coverage of the USWNT on two conservative sports media outlets, Barstool Sports and OutKick . The findings indicate that the outlets utilize populist style to construct a cultural identity of their ideal American sports fan that stands at odds with the progressive ideals encompassed within the USWNT, making the team particularly susceptible to popular misogynistic treatment and attacks. As such, a critical analysis of gender must be incorporated into analyses and understandings of populist style.