Study calls for action to combat online abuse of sportswomen

Stronger policies and accountability measures to safeguard women athletes online are being called for, as part of a new study on the issue focusing on the case of former footballer Joey Barton. A team from the universities of Manchester, Chester, Hull, Durham and Loughborough investigated misogynistic online rhetoric directed at women and girls in sport. Their paper analyzes three event timeframes on the social media platform X where Barton targeted two female football players and a female pundit with abusive language, and also analyzed the public response.