International Journal of Sport Management

Toxicity within the Women’s
 Sport Social Media Discourse

Megan C. Piché, Michael L. Naraine

Social media (SM) has become an important pillar of sport marketing communication, offering a unique proposition for women’s sport, a historically marginalized sporting vertical, to grow. However, the increased use of SM also poses the risk of toxic behaviors rising that harm inclusive and supportive discussion between fans. This study explored toxicity within the women’s sport discourse. Twitter and Reddit posts from the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) were collected on over four periods (i.e., the pre-season, in-season, playoff, and off-season), and were juxtaposed to the analogous men’s league, including the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Soccer (MLS). Using Communalytic and Perspective Application Programming Interface, toxicity analyses suggest that toxicity does indeed exist within the women’s sport online discourse, with Reddit exhibiting slightly more toxicity than Twitter. Given these findings, women’s sport organizations should adopt proactive strategies on SM to assist in the moderation of toxic discussion.

Keywords: women’s sport, social media, fan engagement, digital imagined communities

Citation: Piché, M. C., & Naraine, M. L. (2025). Toxicity within the women’s sport social media discourse. International Journal of Sport Management, 26(1), 23-50.

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