A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book

Women's Football Fandom on Tumblr as Everyday Online Activism: #Hardersson




AuthorsTurtiainen, Riikka

EditorsTjønndal, Anne; Turtiainen, Riikka; Frandsen, Kirsten; Rogstad, Egil Trasti

PublisherRoutledge

Publication year2025

Book title Women in a Digitized Sports Culture: Nordic Perspectives

Series titleWomen, Sport and Physical Activity

First page 51

Last page67

ISBN978-1-03-286444-0

eISBN978-1-00-352756-5

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781003527565-6

Web address https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003527565-6


Abstract

Football fandom is still regarded as a male-dominated phenomenon in the public discourse. In this chapter, I analyse the fandom of women’s football on the microblogging platform Tumblr as everyday online activism. Using the research data I collected from Tumblr fan blogs, I show that women’s football fandom is a combination of the traditional features of football fandom and the affordances of a particular social media service. I examine how the women’s football fans collectively use mainstream media and various social media content to serve their own feminist purposes, for example by creating fan fiction of elite football players. I highlight the Nordic ‘power couple’, Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson, who are big idols in the Tumblr fan community. These players are strong advocates for the LGBTQ+ rights and content related to them can be found on Tumbler with the commonly used hashtag #hardersson.



Last updated on 2025-07-08 at 14:40