The second theme I will discuss is the individual vs. the community, as portrayed in my analysis of the 15 male and 15 female athletes on twitter. The individual is associated with the gender normative behavior of males. Gendered male behavior is often seen as alone, stoic, silent, and do not talk about any of their issues. The community is associated with gender normative behavior of females. They are seen as having each other’s backs and openly discussing or sharing their issues. Some examples of male athletes expressing this individualism can be seen in their profile picture. 86.6% of the 15 male athletes are pictured alone. They are not with family, friends or teammates. Some examples of these athletes include a majority of football and basketball players such as Lane Johnson, Darius Leonard, Calvin Ridley, and Paul Pierce. They are oftentimes serious or performing their sport. Another example of this individualism amongst men can be seen in how their followers or users on twitter are reacting to their issues of mental health. Only .66% of the 15 tweets by male athletes were retweeted over a thousand times. This shows that in terms of sharing their stories about mental health, male athletes stand alone and would prefer not to share their issues. Along with this, if there are any responses to their issues of mental health, 33.3% of comments used derogatory language or name calling towards the male athlete. This shows that even if they are to speak out or get some recognition, it is negative. 0% of male athletes’ top twitter responses were retweeted over 10 times. This reinforces the stereotype of individualism because even users’ reactions are not shared.
In contrast, some examples of female athletes expressing their sense of community and support can be seen amongst the amount of their twitter followers. 40% of female athletes had over a million followers. I was not expecting that because I always expected male athletes to be more popular. Female athletes on twitter had a much larger community than I had expected.
(Screenshot from Naomi Osaka’s Tweet posted on May 31, 2021)
I found that 33.3% of the female athletes’ tweets were retweeted over a thousand times. This was a lot more than male athletes’ posts, showing their sense of community and support system
(Screenshot from Kevin Love’s Tweet on June 7th, 2022)
Only .66% of the 15 tweets by male athletes were retweeted over a thousand times. This shows that in terms of sharing their stories about mental health, male athletes stand alone and would prefer not to share their issues.
These examples demonstrate the gender normative behavior of community and support amongst female athletes.