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Abstract

Social media-based abuse is a phenomenon that is ever-present amongst online spaces, plaguing its users largely due to the ability of a perpetrator to remain anonymous and be free of consequence. Sports stars – and in particular, footballers – have felt the brunt of this discriminatory abuse, with social media sites providing accessible spaces for abusers to hurl racist, sexist and homophobic insults and slurs towards them in a way that is increasingly difficult to do in real life in stadiums. While footballers have been a target for said abuse since before the growth of social media, this dissertation argues that social media has massively impacted this behaviour, causing footballers to be targeted more and easier than ever before. It was found that while work from anti-hate organisations within the game, such as Kick It Out and Rainbow Laces, are raising awareness for discrimination within football, social media websites such as Twitter are still littered with users abusing footballers. This has ultimately led to many high-profile stars either taking breaks from social media, letting management companies run them, or quitting altogether. In order to come to these conclusions, thorough research is conducted throughout this paper in relation to racist, sexist, and homophobic abuse – comparing the more traditional forms in stadiums, with that in online spaces. Despite these obvious negative effects, positive aspects of the social media are also explored - such as footballers using their online presence to raise awareness for the hate they receive and the formation of organisations with the sole purpose of fighting back against and eradicating discriminatory abuse in real life and on social media. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to raise awareness for social media’s huge impact on the discriminatory abuse footballers are targeted with, as well as providing potential solutions to the issue.

Course: Media Studies - BA (Hons) - C1346

Date Deposited: 2024-08-08

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14429.html