A content analysis of Twitter attitudes on women's Australian and North American sports

Abstract

The Sport Nexus has been described as an institution that replicates the inequalities of society, where men are considered as first-class citizens (Duncan & Hasbrook, 1988). This notion has implications for how sport women are treated and viewed within the sport industry. This thesis explores the lack of coverage women's sport has received. It considers how the digital space has provided an alternate avenue for female athletes to establish both their sporting and personal identity, contesting the notions of their inferiority that traditional media has historically perpetuated. Increasingly, sport fans have followed suit, utilising platforms such as Twitter to voice their sentiments on women's sport, however, research into fan perception of women's sport is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate fan attitudes on women's sport in an Australian and North American context. This study examined Twitter users' perceptions of women's sport across two time points and two continents. Tweets related to Australian women's sport leagues (AFLW and WBBL) and national team (Matildas), and North American leagues (WNBA, NWHL, and CWHL), and national teams (USWNT and CANWNT) were collected on the opening day of each respective season, or the opening match for national teams, and analysed using content analysis. The study highlights that Twitter is an ideological terrain where dominant ideas of the inferiority of female athletes may be reinforced or challenged. Although micro-aggression was present across all leagues and national teams, the presence of micro-kindness demonstrated the ways in which sport fans' views on women's sport can differ from what is being presented in traditional media. Future research should extend the timeframe to investigate the difference in sentiments in the opening and closing season to gain a better understanding of whether fan sentiments change.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English