Misogyny in sports continues to shape how people treat women athletes, even when their achievements should speak for themselves. With the Olympics coming up, many people have been watching the sports and sharing their love for the athletes online. Athletes like Alyssa Liu have taken the spotlight. Coming from the Bay Area, her attitude towards skating and her alternative style have caught the public’s attention.
Many fans celebrate her personality and success, yet some men online do so in a different way. Numerous pages on apps like X label photos of her as “goonbait,” often reposting an image of her with her tongue out. Instead of praising her talent and accomplishments, those posts shift attention to her body and sexualize her appearance.
Liu does not face the problem alone. Her fellow skater, Isabeau Levito, has faced similar treatment. She has appeared in AI-generated deep fakes, and numerous men have repeatedly posted comments about her body and sexualized her skating. The situation became serious enough that her fellow skater, Amber Glenn, publicly said that there are some “really disturbing things” being said about her online. Male athletes rarely need to worry about that type of response. Women train for years to master their sport, yet strangers on the internet reduce their work to sexualized images and comments.
Junior Rachel Morrison explains that many reactions toward women athletes stem from unrealistic expectations placed on them. She argues that “although Alysa Liu has received a lot of support, the criticism of her having ‘too much fun’ or ‘not being strict enough with her diet’ is rooted in misogyny and comes from a place of trying to entrap women in perfection.” Morrison believes people often expect female athletes to embody an impossible ideal rather than simply perform well in their sport. When women show personality, criticism often follows. After Liu finished a program and celebrated by swearing, some viewers criticised her behavior rather than acknowledging the difficulty of the jumps she had just landed.
Misogyny appears in other sports as well. The hockey world recently revealed how easily people dismiss women’s accomplishments. During a locker-room call between the President of the United States and the Men’s Hockey team, the President joked that they would have to invite the women’s hockey team to the White House as well. The room burst into laughter after the comment, framing the women’s team as an obligation rather than a group that earned recognition through success and turned their accomplishments into a political punchline.
A video of the call quickly went viral on social media. Many criticized the comment, arguing that the joke reduced the women’s Olympic victory to a moment of humor. Several U.S. Men’s hockey players later expressed regret: Jeremy Swayman admitted that they “should have responded differently,” while Jake Sanderson called it “a mistake.” Hilary Knight, captain of the Women’s U.S. team, called the moment “distasteful” and explained that the joke redirected attention away from the team’s accomplishment.
The reaction online demonstrated how quickly a woman’s success can become secondary to a man’s response. Social media focused less on the women winning gold and more on the joke that followed. Morrison believes that reaction reflects a deeper cultural problem. She explains that “the fact that misogyny is so ingrained in society that Jack Hughs feels that it is acceptable to laugh about the women’s team getting the same treatment as the men’s, even though the women’s team has more accolades, is disgusting.” She also points out a personal irony. Hughes’s own mother played hockey and could not continue her career because opportunities for women remained limited. She later coached the women’s Olympic hockey team, yet even that background did not prevent the dismissive reaction.
Moments like that reveal how normalized misogyny remains within sports culture. People often treat sexist comments as harmless jokes rather than acknowledging the message behind them. When leaders and famous athletes laugh along, the behavior appears acceptable. Morrison believes the issue extends beyond a single incident, arguing that “Though the men on the hockey team are using their platform to publicly demean women, I think it’s important to recognize that they represent a large portion of American citizens who truly believe women do not deserve the same treatment.” Her points highlight a broader social pattern than a single mistake.
If people can laugh off an Olympic gold medal or turn teenage skaters into sexualized images, misogyny has not disappeared, but rather society has simply found new ways to express it. Women athletes should not have to win championships and still fight for basic respect. They dedicate years of training and discipline to reach the highest level of competition, and that commitment deserves recognition rather than mockery.
Change will not happen overnight, yet progress must begin with how people respond. Fans, athletes, and leaders all shape the culture surrounding sports. When people challenge sexist jokes and reject sexualized harassment, they create space for women athletes to receive the respect their accomplishments already deserve.