“It just hurts”
Alisha Lehmann talks about hate messages online
The European Football Association (Uefa) has noticed an increase in hate messages online against footballers. One who is also affected is national team player Alisha Lehmann (23). Now she talks about it in a documentary.
According to Uefa, 50 percent of all professional soccer players have already been victims of insults, insults and other hate messages on the internet. During the group phase of the women’s European Championship alone, the association reported around 300 cases of online insults.
The content of these messages is mostly racist, sexist or personally offensive. Alisha Lehmann (23) was not spared such hostilities, especially at the time when she was in a relationship with Nati colleague Ramona Bachmann (30).
“Not one of us anymore”
“When I was with a woman before, people often didn’t accept it, were sad or said, ‘Now you’re so different’ or ‘You’re no longer one of us’,” says the native of Bern Uefa-Dokumentation «Outraged The Series». “It just hurts me because everyone is the same to me.”
Lehmann, who has 7.8 million followers on Instagram, says she spends a lot of time on this and other platforms such as TikTok. She wants to use these social networks to show young girls and women that they can achieve anything. “When people then share such negative things, it makes me sad because I want to use the platforms in a positive way.”
Platforms need to take action
Insults on the net are much worse for the 23-year-old than in real life because “there are ten or a hundred people who tell you”. In real life, many of the online bullies would not dare to utter such abuse: “They would rather ask: ‘Can I have your shirt?’ Or ‘Can I have an autograph?'”
But because you can hide behind a cell phone or a computer, many feel they can say whatever they want. To stop them feeling that way, the Aston Villa player, who extended her contract by a year on Friday, is urging platforms to take action. “Social media platforms need to change, set new guidelines and support those who are affected.” (che)
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