World Cup fans riled by England's 'sexist' tweet
England's 3rd-place women's team welcomed home as 'mothers,' 'daughters'
England's Football Association deleted a Twitter post Monday morning that described the women's team members as "mothers, partners and daughters" and which was immediately criticized as sexist and patronizing.
Welp, that's the last time <a href="https://twitter.com/england">@england</a> lets a time traveler from the 1800s run their social media accounts I guess <a href="http://t.co/aJTAtBtGE7">pic.twitter.com/aJTAtBtGE7</a>
—@broderickThe tweet linked to a blog post on the FA's website that hailed the Lionesses, third-place finishers at the FIFA Women's World Cup, as heroes, but started with: "England Women went back to being mothers, partners, sisters and daughters on Monday morning."
This week in 'How not to promote women's football': <a href="http://t.co/syXmzNJFik">http://t.co/syXmzNJFik</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lionesses?src=hash">#Lionesses</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EnglandWomen?src=hash">#EnglandWomen</a> <a href="http://t.co/dKu4mRaH8S">pic.twitter.com/dKu4mRaH8S</a>
—@AnjliRavalAs some soccer fans on Twitter pointed out, many members of England's women's team are professional football players.
Funny, I thought they were coming back to be footballers. WSL starts back up at the weekend. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lionesses?src=hash">#Lionesses</a> <a href="https://t.co/CIPsgNaBRP">https://t.co/CIPsgNaBRP</a>
—@Unity_MoTCritics of the FA's tweet said that characterizing the women in terms of their relationship to other people was sexist and patronizing, and that such a thing would never have been written about the men's team.
Because, even if part of a successful national football team, women really only exist to be wives & mothers. GRRRR! <a href="https://t.co/vZpUqqFyI8">https://t.co/vZpUqqFyI8</a>
—@JoLiptrottYou've had your fun gals, back in the kitchen. Thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/england">@england</a> <a href="http://t.co/qR4pUsCZ14">pic.twitter.com/qR4pUsCZ14</a>
—@AFTRebeccaScreengrab. Women, you only exist in relationship to others. Well done though, we were happy to let you have a go. <a href="https://t.co/j2UIDjT15U">https://t.co/j2UIDjT15U</a>
—@AdamRutherfordImagine the people signing off on that <a href="https://twitter.com/england">@england</a> tweet and going “Nope, no problem here. Can’t see anyone thinking this is patronising”
—@MartinBelamMy first day as the <a href="https://twitter.com/england">@england</a> social media manager seems to be going well.
—@mrnickharveyPoor show <a href="https://twitter.com/england">@england</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lionesses?src=hash">#Lionesses</a> deserve a lot more respect than this sexist nonsense for their brilliant performances <a href="https://t.co/dZSBJSmO8h">https://t.co/dZSBJSmO8h</a>
—@hanson_simonThe tweet and the corresponding sections of the blog post were quietly deleted. An FA spokesman told the BBC that the blog post was about the players reuniting with their families.
"The full story was a wider homecoming feature attempting to reflect the many personal stories within the playing squad as has been told throughout the course of the tournament," the FA spokesman said. "However, we understand that an element of the story appears to have been taken out of context and the opening paragraph was subsequently revised to reflect that fact."