Brave: Sinalo Jafta
Proteas women’s wicketeeper Sinalo Jafta has spoken out about online abuse by so-called sports fans.
With the International Cricket Council on Wednesday sending out a statement that they will “deliver a plan to better protect female players and officials from sexist, misogynistic and other abuse on social media during its global events”, Jafta explained the impact it has on players.
She says: “I’ve been subject to a lot of online bullying over the last three years…
On International Women’s Day, the ICC has pledged to launch a dedicated in-tournament social media monitoring initiative to create a safer online space for women.
— ICC (@ICC) March 8, 2023
Details 👇https://t.co/EXS1mRbl65
“Truth is, I hit rock bottom. I isolated myself from everyone; social media, WhatsApp and anything electronic. I just saw it as the enemy. There were so many times I wanted to respond and say is this really what it has come to. I felt like I didn’t have a voice, and if I retaliated there would be even more abuse and I couldn’t handle it for the life of me.
“But I feel like something has to be done because we don’t plan to make mistakes, but mistakes happen. When does it stop, when are people ever going to be held accountable?”
dailyvoice@inl.co.za
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