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Social Media and the Politics of Gender, Race and Identity: The case of Serena Williams.

Litchfield, C., Kavanagh, E. J., Osborne, J. and Jones, I., 2018. Social Media and the Politics of Gender, Race and Identity: The case of Serena Williams. European Journal for Sport and Society, 15 (2), 154-170.

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DOI: 10.1080/16138171.2018.1452870

Abstract

This study investigates issues of gender, race and identity, as enacted through social media, focusing on the abuse experienced by tennis player Serena Williams during the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. A netnographic analysis of discriminatory or abusive comments relating to Williams were collected from 24 sites on two social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are popular sites commonly used for fan/athlete interaction. Williams identifies as female and African American, therefore intersectionality is adopted to examine the representation of Williams in social media spaces. Several pertinent themes were uncovered relating to Williams including ‘Gender questioning’, ‘Accusations of performance enhancing drugs use’ and ‘Racism’. Such themes showed a simultaneous overlapping of multiple forms of oppression encountered by Williams, reinforcing the notion of the black female athlete as ‘other’ in virtual spaces. Such oppression is perpetuated by the online environment.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1613-8171
Uncontrolled Keywords:social media; intersectionality; abuse; gender;sport
Group:Bournemouth University Business School
ID Code:30146
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:21 Dec 2017 14:39
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 14:08

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