With social media becoming a significant part of sports, faceless trolls have become a real menace to the athletes. They are subjected to intense bullying and harassment and are expected to take it all in stride, not letting it affect them in the slightest. The Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese was part of a campaign that aimed to curtail the cyberbullying that the players face daily.
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While discussing the campaign on their podcast, A Touch More, WNBA legend Sue Bird and her partner, soccer star and former USWNT captain Megan Rapinoe, applauded the 22-year-old for taking a stand against hate and becoming the face of an important movement.
Rapinoe, who has been a victim of senseless online hate, elaborated on how users on social media make up narratives in their heads just to harass athletes. After outlining that female athletes are more susceptible to online hate than their male counterparts, she asked that athletes don’t let the comments affect them.
Bird then explained the concept of what Reese was trying to do with the new campaign. She said, “So, part of what Angel Reese is getting into is, I don’t know if it’s a program or what, but it’ll be AI (Artificial Intelligence) helping block all the hate speech. I love this.”
The clip posted on the Chicago Sky’s official YouTube channel shows Reese battling against hate comments directed towards her. The campaign is called, “Block The Negativity Post Up Positivity” which is in collaboration with “The Net” Mental Health Network. At the end of the clip, a graphic shows a damning stat: 87% of women athletes experience online harm.
Although unfortunate, these numbers don’t tell the full story. If we take only the Sky rookie’s example, the internet ridicule that she went through during her famous NCAA run can’t be represented in numbers.
Even when she made her WNBA debut, she was targeted by trolls. Hopefully, the campaign will help people put their anger aside and treat players like they deserve to be treated, with respect.
