Crooked Timber follows up on Twitter tennis Bartoli bullying

Perceived looks matter more than sports accomplishments, naturally http://crookedtimber.org/2013/07/10/perceived-looks-matter-more-than-sports-accomplishments-naturally/#more-29945 by Eszter Hargittai on July 10, 2013 Here is a helpful compilation of extremely disgusting comments that Wimbledon Champion Marion Bartoli received on Twitter. That post does a good job of highlighting some of the ways in which these reactions have been sexist, misogynistic, offensive and plain dumb. Go take a look, seriously, I can’t do the vitriol of the commentary justice. What I thought I would do, however, is follow up with the Twitter accounts of some of the people quoted, not by contacting anyone, simply by looking them up. I wanted to see whether being featured in such a post had any effect on them, and also to get some context. Not surprisingly, several have deleted the quoted tweets from their accounts. It is almost more surprising that some have not. Some have made their Twitter accounts private and others have altogether deleted them. One of the things that I find fascinating in all this is how many people decided to make such hateful and stupid comments publicly under seemingly their own name. And hey, in some ways that’s a public service. But it does seem to add another layer of crazy. (As someone who studies people’s Internet uses and skills including privacy and reputation issues, I’m not surprised by this, but I do think it’s worthy of mention. It’s also why I’m now working with Brayden King on a book about reputation management in the digital age although in some ways I’d rather have people like this come right out about their ignorance with whatever repercussions follow.) Another interesting aspect of the inane tweets is that in many cases several people have decided to favorite and retweet them. (I realize favoriting could function as bookmarking for later perusal, but I suspect favoriting in most of these cases means an up-vote.) So let’s examine the commentators’ Twitter accounts in the order in which they appear in that post a couple of days after the compilation was published. I only had time to transcribe a dozen or so. There’s painfully more where this came from. Danwatt8’s featured tweet stating “Bartoli looks like she’s a cross between man and ape. #NotAWimbledonBabe” no longer seems to be on his account, but another one is. Will Showers has decided to protect his tweets. I guess he doesn’t want his name linked to the following comment he made: “Someone as ugly and unattractive as Bartoli doesn’t deserve to win“. Damian Ristović deleted the featured tweet that stated: “Female tennis is useless, I’ve never seen a disgusting champion like Bartoli.”, but kept this one: “Lisicki should be able to beat this ogre come on“. He also went on to defend his comments and yell at some people who dared send a critical tweet his way. Max Bateman no longer seems to have the account that stated the following: “I wanted Lisiki to win because Bartoli is ugly & she looks like she’s covered her face & hair in Bertolli, oily faced French bitch.” Rudi Taylor seems to have decided to get off Twitter as well. I guess he figured being associated with the following quote wouldn’t be beneficial: “Marion Bartoli is a fat ugly smelly little slut“. London’s Stifler has kept the offensive “Bartoli you fat shit. I don’t want an ugly bitch to win” up on his account and has even pointed people to the Tumblr post where his comment is featured in addition to engaging with responses in the same style as his original post. Ellis Keddie’s post stating “How is bartoli a professional athelete and fat as fuck” is still available. He’s received some responses and has replied as one might expect. User Suman under account sumandutta had shared the following: “Feeling for the trophy presenters who had to exchange kisses with the fat ugly sweaty pig Bartoli.” Maybe upon reflection Suman decided this was not an ideal use of Twitter as that account no longer has any tweets on it. Cameron Shulak had added the following observation: “bartoli is too ugly to win wimbledon“, a tweet no longer on his account. Ironically, however, he seems to have retweeted the following just a day before his insightful observation about sports: “Life’s much more enjoyable when you look for the beauty in everything/everyone rather than the flaws #justsayin”. Go figure! Kurt Hopkins doesn’t seem to be embarrassed by his tweet stating: “That’s it Bartoli, there’s your plate, now get back in the kitchen and make everyone a sandwich #wimbledon” as it’s still on his account. In fact, he’s engaged in quite a bit of back-and-forth with some responses. User TallTyrionLannister added this to the conversation: “Fuck off Bartoli you fat greasy bitch” and went on to defend it in a subsequent exchange. He also had additional insightful tweets: “Gwan Lisicki, smash that French bitch.“, “Bartoli is such an ugly twat.“, “Fuck off, Bartoli“, “Lisicki is so lovely, can’t believe this greasy haired twat is battering her. Leave her alone.” Rhys Quinn’s account no longer has the tweet stating “Bartoli ate 37 tennis balls before playing her tennis match for her source of energy! #whale“, but has some responses that were likely a follow-up such as: “@SeanCaio7 she’s near the same size as you ye fat cunt”. Alex Wilkie’s account stating “Bartoli stopp fist pumping every time you win a point.. You ugly French fuck. #wimbledon” no longer exists. Ben Ledger’s deep contribution is no longer on his account: “Wondering what would bounce better the balls or Bartoli #Wimbledon #fatty“. That’s it for now. I wish I had time to follow up on more of the accounts included in the Tumblr post. If you’re so inclined, please feel free to do so and please share. It’s not reasonable or necessary to rank the level of crazy in these tweets, but note that the above examples only scratch the surface.