First, this happened:
Then this:
And this:
WILL AP MCCOY BE RIDING YOU AT THE NEXT GRAND NATIONAL?
And that’s not taking into account such comments as: "Do you think pregnancy is a poor injury excuse and women should be able to run it off?" and "are all sportswomen lesbians?"
Perhaps Sky should have pulled the gym mat out from under the whole thing at that stage.
Because what followed was almost two hours of trolling: a torrent of vile insults and misogyny. Tweddle was only able to answer a handful of questions and even those were deliberately misconstrued.
BETH: I LOVED IT FROM THE AGE OF 7 BUT IT TOOK OVER FROM THE AGE OF 12 #SPORTSWOMEN
Twitter responded to this comment by calling this World Champion sportswoman a "slut" and "bitch". She was asked whether she wanted "cock" or "anal". Someone even posted a picture of Jimmy Savile.
What a sad, sad state of affairs. Over the last year, the abuse increasingly suffered by women on social media has taken in media commentators (such as the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman and the Independent’s Grace Dent who were the subject of bomb threats), historians (Mary Beard), those campaigning to put a female face on the ten pound note (the two individuals who threatened Caroline Criado Perez with rape and murder were jailed earlier this month) and now athletes. At least none of us is being left out eh gals? Slurs for one and all!
No wonder we’re in a situation where professional swimmer Rebecca Adlington broke down on national television over her lack of body confidence.
What’s been refreshing, in the wake of this latest incident, is the way Tweddle's treatment has been reported. Far from encouraging women to engage in ‘Twitter silences’ or boycotts, we’re speaking up and doing as Criado-Perez suggested after her experiences last summer: shouting back at trolls.
Everyday Sexism blogged about it and quickly ignited a Twitterstorm of indignant readers. The New Statesman followed suit.
For some it was a sad indictment of how we see women's sport; Everyday Sexism told us that just 5 per cent of sports media coverage features women and that they receive only 0.5 per cent of the total sponsorship income.
To others it was plain old sexism - an opportunity to spit bile at a woman who has dared to be in the public eye (Tweddle has maintained a relatively strong media presence since London 2012; appearing on Dancing on Ice and as a commentator).
Sky released a statement, saying it was appalled by the "unacceptable and offensive abuse".
“We’re committed to supporting women’s sport and Beth’s Q&A was a chance for fans to engage with one of Britain’s most successful sports stars,” it said. “We’re appalled that some people chose to abuse her. This experience highlights some of the unacceptable and offensive attitudes that can be encountered by women in the public eye.”
It was a welcome and much-needed reaction. Let’s face it, we’re all in danger of becoming jaded – and that doesn’t mean accepting or being any less than utterly appalled – by such incidents.
It’s important to speak up and out. How else will we iron-out the rules of civility in this new online society in the face of resistance from social media organisations, the police and that primitive handful of trolls – mostly men in this instance – who believe any successful women must be trampled on?
For that’s what we’re dealing with – not make-believe threats from avatars. The people levelling insults and rape threats against women like Tweddle are real. They walk among us.
How loudly we shout out against them will dictate what happens next.
Update: On Wednesday afternoon, Tweddle responded to her Twitter abuse by tweeting the following:
"Thanks for all your messages. Yesterday was unfortunate but I've been heartened to see the reaction from responsible twitter users
"A few people did something wrong, were called out on it and apologised. This demonstrated that abuse isn't tolerated.
"I hope evryone continues to react the same way by reporting abuse no matter who is on the receiving end."
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