'I hope you get raped again': Men read out abusive tweets to female sport writers
In a confronting video revealing the harassment and ostracism women face in media today, randomly chosen men read vile tweets written by sports fan aimed at two female journalists.
Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro teamed up with Just Not Sports as part of the #MoreThanMean campaign and random men were chosen - who were not the original authors - to read the abusive tweets about the pair.
The twist in the campaign is that the women had already seen these hurtful comments, but the male participants who volunteered to take part had not.
The video begins with the men reading some light-hearted jabs at the writers but it quickly divulges into revealing the vile comments causing some of the men’s eyes to well with tears.
Various tweets at the beginning of the video contain the words “nagging wife,” “scrub muffin,” and “not good.”
But the video takes a dark turn when the more severe comments are real aloud, which are ones the women face on a daily basis.
“I hope your boyfriend beats you,” one reads to Spain. He looks actually stricken, adding, in his own voice: “Sorry.”
“I hope a hockey player beats you to death” and, in the case of DiCaro, a rape survivor, “I hope you get raped again”.
“This is why we don’t hire any females unless we need... our d***s sucked or our food cooked” one of them reads hesitantly.
The hateful comments worsened and each male participant become noticeably uncomfortable with the violent words suggesting the women should be raped or beaten.
“Hopefully this s**** Julie DiCaro is Bill Cosby’s next victim,” another man reads. “That would be classic.”
"Why bring up your own rape in a story, is it a way for firing back at critics who say you can't get any?" one man reads which causes DiCaro to take a deep breath before apologising in his own voice.
“I have to read all of them, right?” another asks, squirming in his seat. He does so, reluctantly and reads to DiCaro: “I hope you get raped again.”
“I’m having trouble looking at you when I’m saying these things,” says another.
DiCaro writes for 670 The Score and Spain for ESPN.com and immediately after the video was released, the pair of them have been further harassed.
Numerous YouTube and Twitter users have posted even more disgusting comments online claiming the two women tried to hijack their abuse and sell it off as sexism.
@SarahSpain Get thicker skin or quit. I have no sympathy for you at all. ZERO
— Tim (@tedin99) April 26, 2016
@BearBoards_ Their precious feelings were fine. Don't worry snowflake, they will be ok
— Tim (@tedin99) April 26, 2016
I'm confident that my mentions are tougher than 99.9% of all people, male or female, receive on Twitter.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 26, 2016
The video ends on sombre note, reminding viewers that women in sports face daily online harassment simply for doing their job.
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