Exploring online sexism and misogyny in women’s professional English football

Men’s professional football has historically dominated the sport media landscape. However, the increased professionalization of women’s football, and the growth in popularity of the Women’s Super League (WSL), the European Championships and World Cup, means that female players are now competing in front of sold-out capacity crowds with millions of viewers watching via television and streaming platforms. With this enhanced popularity, it has increased online traffic relating to, and discussing, women’s football. Some of these discussions are abusive, and potentially harmful. Nonetheless, while a growing body of research has attempted to investigate online harms in football, most of the attention has been directed at men’s football. This article therefore importantly focuses on women’s football. In this work, we will examine qualitative findings with 30 current and former professional women’s players to critically understand how online sexism, misogyny and wider harms, are experienced and dealt with. Our findings demonstrate that players are vulnerable to online harms and often try to dismiss it as an occupational hazard. We suggest that stakeholders, such as professional clubs should devote more time, energy and resources to better protect and support players against such harms. The article concludes by offering some recommendations for reform and suggestions for future research.