Ashley Judd's noble fight to confront social media sexism: After trolls batter the Kentucky superfan on Twitter, she fights back

March 27, 2015
By: Dave Zirin

One of the best, not to mention courageous, sportswriters I know is ESPN’s Kate Fagan. After the Dallas Cowboys signed convicted abuser of women Greg Hardy to a contract — showing again that no act of gender violence is problematic for NFL teams if you can still play — Fagan tweeted the following:

“*composes Tweet re: Greg Hardy* *imagines responses* *feels fatigued* *sighs heavily* *backspaces Tweet* *stays silent* -How System Works”

One of the best, not to mention courageous, sportswriters I know is ESPN’s Kate Fagan. After the Dallas Cowboys signed convicted abuser of women Greg Hardy to a contract — showing again that no act of gender violence is problematic for NFL teams if you can still play — Fagan tweeted the following:

“*composes Tweet re: Greg Hardy* *imagines responses* *feels fatigued* *sighs heavily* *backspaces Tweet* *stays silent* -How System Works”

Fagan’s statement is of course less about Greg Hardy than how the sports corner of social media drives women to either silence or simply drives them out.

This is in no way exclusive to sports. Social media can be a cesspool of misogyny where, under the guise of a anonymity, trolls attack. But in sports, especially now during March Madness, it feels particularly cruel. This is supposed to be a national party, a communal space of joy and light-torment when our teams win or lose at the buzzer and our brackets go up in collective smoke.

But even now, as people dexterously stare at their TV screens while working their smart phones, I know too many female sports writers, commentators or just fans who have decided that the only option, when dealing with the mental stress of these attacks, is to withdraw.

This is what makes the recent stand by Ashley Judd, actress and University of Kentucky hoops die-hard, so important.

Judd has been a supporter of the number 1 ranked Wildcats hoops program for decades, her fandom as much a staple on the college basketball landscape as March Madness itself.

But after doing what we all do — complaining about a ref’s call on Twitter — Judd experienced the common occurrence of being deluged with sexist vitriol by a series of faceless trolls and decided that it was time to stop the madness.

She said, “Everyone needs to take personal responsibility for what they write, and [for] not allowing this misinterpretation and shaming culture on social media to persist. And by the way, I’m pressing charges.”

Then Judd went on the “Today” show and said, “The amount of gender violence I experience is absolutely extraordinary. A significant part of my day today will be spent filing police reports at home about gender violence that is directed at me on social media.”

This kind of response was probably only going to happen if someone with the resources and profile of Judd chose to act, and it matters: not only so we can beat back vicious misogyny, but for the good of sports.

In the sports world, social media has become something well beyond the place where opinions are debated. It is now where stories are driven forward to become the dominant discussions that shape the politics at play. Questions about paying college athletes, changing the Washington football team logo, or whether pro jocks should support the Black Lives Matter movement have all found their genesis and momentum in recent years on Twitter and Facebook.

While this space can bring new ideas into sports, it also has the capacity to shut other ideas out. The conscious harassment of female voices serves to marginalize a series of critical narratives that would otherwise go unheard.

How we discuss — or don’t discuss — sexual assault and violence against women in sports is just such a story. Accused rapist in Jameis Winston is likely to be the number one pick in the NFL draft.

Whether this will be debated in a way that excuses this behavior with cheap jokes and elliptical talk about his “poor judgment” or becomes a moment to actually discuss why too many pro athletes view women as the spoils of stardom will largely depend on how this discussion happens over social media.

Then there is the issue of how women’s sports are discussed in these forums. Not to shock anyone, but in online discussions women’s athletics, we find another space where faceless online personalities see an opportunity to attack women. Then the discussions don’t happen, and women’s sports are left even further behind.

It has to stop or we will be looking at a sports landscape where the progress that women have made over the last 20 years will prove to be as illusory as the hopes of picking a perfect NCAA bracket.

What is particularly satisfying about Ashley Judd’s stand is that for many trolls, the ultimate satisfaction is provoking some kind of response. They want anger. They want tears. They want to see social media accounts closed in frustration.

But they are about to get a different kind of response, and there won’t be anything anonymous about it.